The Racing Queen
by Kassandra Khaos
Summary: An American transfer student comes to Ouran under her brother's name. This fiercely independent young woman gets mixed up with the craziness of the Host club, but will she find love in the brains of the operation? Slight crossover Skip Beat! Kyoya/OC
1. Chapter 1: Meet the Hosts

Hello everyone! A couple of months ago, my little sister approached me with a plot bunny that sounded like fun. That plot bunny became this story. It was a heavily collaborated effort between the two of us, and she deserves lot's of credit. If anyone wants to point out that all of it seems like my style of writing, that's because my sister (whom I shall refer to as Murphy) wrote the story chapter by chapter and then would have me edit, and add plot devices and twist things in a rather amusing direction. So, please enjoy what Murphy and I have created.

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><p>Hello I'm Murphy as you all know or Kassi as some know me as. Death wanted me to put this on my account since she says I'm the real author and she's just the editor. We been talking about this for a long time so I finally gave up and let the story be on my account. I hope you like it!<p>

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><p>Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(<p>

Chapter 1: Meet the Hosts

Kat wished her dad had never taken the deal.

Her father expected her to attempt to fit in with these Japanese rich kids.

"Potential business." He told her on the plane ride over, "These kids you're going to school with will be the best and brightest someday!"

Ever since she had moved to Japan, all her father had talked about was sushi, mangas and maid cafes. The day before school started, he had asked her about her scheme to assimilate into Japanese culture.

"Dad," She had replied, after groaning aloud, "I'm not going to become an otaku overnight you know. I'm pretty firmly American."Actually, she was equally European, since both of her older siblings lived in Europe and she had spent lot's of time there growing up.

Her older brother owned resorts across the globe, but he was living in a villa in Florence with his longtime girlfriend/ fiancé Christine, who was Italian.

Her sister in London owned several chains of clothing stores, everything from bridal-wear to urban punk. Coincidentally this is where Kat gets most of her clothing, she's an urban punk; preferring wearing dark tones with sporadic bursts of color.

_Not_ the ridiculous frilly yellow concoction she's expected to wear to school. With dark red hair and snapping gold eyes, she would look ridiculous in the knee length, poufy, butter yellow dress with pink neck bow. When questioned by her father as to why, she retorted that she was boycotting for a less sexist uniform.

Therefore, she did not wear the uniform her first day.

The next morning at Ouran Academy, the teacher introduced her to the class.

"Settle down, everyone and meet your new classmate. This," The teacher gestured to the tall, languid form leaning against the door of the classroom, "is Kaida Khaos. He will be joining us for the rest of the school year." The teacher looked at Kat," Anything you would like to add, Mr. Khaos?" She asked.

The redhead meandered towards the front of the classroom, thumbs hooked in his pockets and walking with a confident swagger.

"'Lo, I'm 'Kat' Khaos," Kat gave them a casual salute, "I 'm 16 and from Gotham, U. S. of A." She had decided to wear dark dressy jeans, with a green printed tee, a gray military jumper, and ear strand and her signature bedhead hair. She wanted to look delightfully casual and enticingly American.

The girls immediately began twittering about this attractive and faintly dangerous looking stranger.

_Not again!_ Kat inwardly groaned. As soon as she had come to Japan, the girl's in her building had starting making passes at her; even some of their mothers!

"Settle down!" The teacher yelled again, before turning towards Kat, "Please take a seat in the back of the room Mr. Khaos." Kat gratefully complied, but kept up the facade of aloofness.

After class, Kat was wandering around, bag slung over one shoulder, in an effort to find a music room that was actually used for music. She had seen two so far, but one was filled with orchestra students who looked at her like something you'd find under your shoe, and the other music room had been occupied by a couple engaged in, ahem, illicit activities.

_Is a place to play the piano really so much to ask for God?_Kat wondered. A few empty hallways later, Kat found a third music room.

_It seems abandoned_ Kat thought, as she cautiously opened the door. As she was thinking this, rose petals drifted gently towards her, and she saw five attractive guys, and a girl, all dressed in matching blue pantsuits, the boy's uniform.

"Welcome to the Host Club, transfer student." A tall blonde said, with a radiant smile," I am Tamaki,"

Kat thought about leaving as he continued.

"This is where wealthy and unbelievably handsome young men such as ourselves, with nothing to do, entertain our school's princesses, (or in your case _princes)_. So tell me, what type of man strikes your fancy? We have..." At this, Kat felt it necessary to interject.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you it's rude to make assumptions _little prince_?" Kat raised an eyebrow scornfully, "I am not gay, or looking to be _entertained._" The blonde immediately bristled when she addressed him as a prince and started sulking.

A raven-haired boy with glasses smoothly stepped in.

"Excuse me, my name is Kyoya Ootori. I must apologize for our president's behavior. "He said with a falsely bright smile "How may we be of assistance?"

Kat warily sized him up. She recognized his last name from a medical group that her father often did business with.

"Two things." She said, after a moment's consideration.

"Please continue." He urged.

"Firstly, I'm looking for an empty music room, or a classroom with a piano." Kat paused and shifted her weight,

"Secondly, why is that girl," Kat nodded towards a surprised Haruhi, whom she recognized from class earlier, "working in a host club? She lose a bet or somethin'?"

The older boy looked taken aback for a moment, but then scrutinized her closely.

The blonde looked thunder-struck, apparently he either hadn't noticed, or it had taken him much longer.

"Oh I see," Kat said, with a wicked looking grin after a pregnant pause, "It's a secret is it? Don't mind me, I won't tell a soul," She paused, and the grin grew wider, "Given the right, ah, _persuasion_, of course."

Strangely enough, this caused Ootori to chuckle, then outright laugh! His laugh, Kat noticed with a shiver, was rather like the smile that followed: predatory.

"You're sharper then I would've given you credit for." He said at last.

"Thanks, never mind though I'll wait for your offer. Mean while I'll go somewhere, ah, less crowded." Kat replied, voice dripping sarcasm and trademark mocking smile in place. With that, she gave a mock salute and swaggered out the door.

_Looked like a bunch of nutcases to me._Kat thought to herself, having no real intention of ratting out the other girl. She walked back to music room number two, to see if the amorous couple had left yet. It was deserted, saying a quick prayer of thanks; she closed the door behind her and sat down at the grand piano. Kat trailed her fingers over the keys, she then began to warm up with, _Ode to joy_, at a quick clip before playing one of her favorites.

The quiet strains of _If I die young_ echoed around the room, softly she sang along, no louder than a whisper. Suddenly, Kat heard the door open a crack; she slipped and accidentally slammed on the keys before swinging around, already thinking up excuses for being in here rather than her next class. She saw the short, blonde boy from the host club.

"Yes?" She asked expectantly.

"Sorry for disturbing you," He said sheepishly, "You left so quickly that we didn't have a chance to introduce ourselves." Perfectly reasonable explanation, except….

"We?" Kat asked, confused.

"Mitsukuni, the door." A deep voice said from the doorway.

"Oh right, sorry Takashi." The door swung open fully to reveal a tall young man, with dark hair and dark eyes.

_Funny,_Kat thought, _Is it just me, or do they look related? Something about the face…_

"I'm Mitsukuni," The little blonde said, pointing to himself, then gesturing to the taller boy, "and this is Takashi. But you can call me Hunny." Hunny smiled and rocked from side to side.

_Dang it,_Kat thought, _He's adorable._

"I'm Mori." Mori said with a quiet smile. Kat instinctively knew this was the closest thing to a smile he ever got.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both," Kat said with a bow, she felt an uncommonly large amount of respect towards both of them, they were being very kind to someone they've just met.

"Would you like to come back to the club and eat cake with us?" Hunny asked, giving her a cute look.

_Awwww…_

"Alright," Kat said with a soft smile, "I was done practicing anyway."

"Yay!" Hunny cheered, taking her hand and leading her back to the club room, "The guests won't arrive for a while yet and you can meet Usa-chan!"

"Usa-chan?"

Hunny dragged Kat through the club doors with Mori close behind.

"Mori-senpai," Kyoya called, from his desk, "Would you come here for a moment?" Mori nodded and walked off. Hunny was enthusiastically dragging Kat in the other direction.

As he made his way to the tea tables, Hunny accidentally bounced into a pedestal with an expensive looking pot on top of it, knocking it off balance.

Kat threw herself at Hunny, shielding him from the porcelain shards that she felt piercing her skin as the pot came down on her head. As her vision went dark, she distantly heard Hunny sniffling and someone calling her name.

She came to with four faces peering anxiously at her,

"Kat!" Hunny threw himself at her and hugged her tight, sobbing, "I'm so sorry! You got hurt and it's all my fault!"

"It's fine, really." Kat smiled at him and patted him on the back.

"How do you feel?" Tamaki asked, concernedly.

Apparently, someone had wrapped up her arms and head while she was out. Kat sat up cautiously and winced.

"Maledizione!" Kat swore as she lay back down, "How long was I out?"

"About 15 minutes." An unconcerned voice said, "I had the school doctor come down to look at you."

Kat turned her head, Kyoya was typing at his laptop on the couch across from the one she was stretched out on.

"No concussion?" Kat asked warily, having had several and not wanting to go through that again.

"Aside from a few scrapes and small lacerations, you're perfectly fine. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a massive headache tomorrow morning, but the doctor gave you some pain medication that should alleviate most of the symptoms for the rest of the day." He then handed her a slip of paper. "Here."

"What's this?" It looked like a receipt.

"That is the cost of the vase you broke over your thick skull, the cost of removing your blood from the carpet and the sofa, and the pain medication the doctor gave you."

"…." 1,013,658.84 yen. Someone took the receipt from her hands.

Mori-senpai folded it up and put it in his pocket, "I've got it."

"You don't have to Mori-senpai," Kat protested, "I'm perfectly capable…" Mori held up and a hand.

"He's my responsibility," He said quietly nodding towards Hunny, "thank you."

Kat realized that he felt indebted to her for protecting Hunny. The girl, Haruhi, stepped close to Kat's ear.

"He won't be happy unless you let him pay." She whispered behind a cupped hand. Kat nodded.

"Fine but there has to be a way for me to do something in return. I'm serious," Kat said, noticing Mori's expression, "It would make me feel better."

"How would you like to work here at the host club?" Tamaki asked with a bright smile in place.

"Yay!" Hunny yelled, "You can stay here with us, just like Haru-chan!"

Kat's lips formed a wry smile, "Fine, but I think you'll need to explain what exactly I'm supposed to do, because back in Gotham, host's clubs weren't something that good boys and girls went to…" Unless you wanted someone killed, or information, or _entertained…_

"Go change into a uniform then." Kyoya said in a bored voice.

"No," Kat immediately protested, then continued when Kyoya raised an eyebrow,

"I don't want to look like a pansy too. I'll work here, but no one messes with the threads."

"Fine, "Kyoya said with a shrug, "If you want to look like a delinquent, that's your business. Why don't you sit with Haruhi to start out, her customers are the most welcoming."

Kat sat up and reached for her backpack. She rummaged around for a few moments and eventually pulled out a small bottle of clear liquid. She then began taking off the bandages on her arms.

"What are you doing?" Tamaki squawked, "You'll reopen the cuts on your arms!"

"No I won't." Kat was examining the dozens of cuts on her arms and neck. She unscrewed the bottle and pulled off the lid. There was a small brush attached to the cap. Kat carefully painted a thin layer of the clear stuff over each of her cuts.

Tamaki, Haruhi and Hunny watched on, fascinated.

When she had covered all of the cuts Kat replaced the cap and set the bottle on the table next to her. Tamaki picked up the bottle. The label said _Liquid Bandage_ in English.

Kat was rummaging in her bag again. This time she pulled out two grey tubes and a dark green knit cap. She unscrewed the lid to one of the tubes and squeezed some minty green paste onto her palm.

She carefully dabbed a little of the green stuff over each of her cuts, then tossed the tube onto the table next to the _liquid bandage_ bottle. Tamaki read the label on this one too; _Redness Concealer._

She picked up the other tube and repeated the action, this time with skin tone colored paste, once again tossing the tube onto the table. This one said,_Waterproof Blemish and Tattoo Concealer._

Then Kat put the cap on her head, strategically placing it so that it covered the bandages. When she was done, you couldn't tell that she had a mark on her anywhere. Kat just gathered up the stuff on the table and put it back into her book-bag.

"You carry makeup around in your bag?" Tamaki asked incredulously, "Are you sure you're straight?"

Kat stood up and sent him a withering glare, "I like being prepared."

"The guests will be arriving any minute." Kyoya reminded everyone, "Mori, would you go get the twins from lunch?"

Haruhi related her story to Kat and explained what hosts were expected to do, with Tamaki interjecting once and a while about _The Intricacies of Being a Gentleman._ As annoying as Tamaki was, Kat felt she would get along pretty well with him and that Haruhi and she might become friends. As she was watching Tamaki with amusement, the twins walked in with Mori.

"Look what the cat dragged in Kaoru." Hikaru said, pointing at Kat who hadn't noticed.

"He looks like a commoner, bet he's Tamaki's new project."

"You'd be surprised." Kyoya said without looking up from his clipboard as they walked past.

"Whadda' you mean?" They asked in unison.

"He has four immediate family members in the top 50 richest in the world. Khaos there," Kyoya said, pointing a pencil in Kat's direction, "has a trust fund in his name for about a quarter of a billion dollars, that he can only access when he turns 18."

"That means he's already independently wealthy despite being 16 and only the third child." Kyoya finished, with a trace of bitterness, recollecting himself, he added, "I'd keep your distance though; I have a feeling that Hunny and Mori are rather attached."

The twins sent a curious look towards Mori, who gave them a glare that set them shivering and hastily retreated to their table.

The customers had begun to trickle in and Haruhi was introducing Kat, but her mind kept wandering.

_I'm sure that Hunny, Mori and Kyoya know I'm actually a girl,_Kat thought,_Haruhi's beginning to be suspicious too. Wonder why they haven't said anything?_

"This is Kat Khaos," Haruhi said to the four girls sitting at the table, "He's new here and has considering joining the host club."

Kat immediately put on the gentleman's façade, "_Please_ take good care of me." She said with a wink. The girls giggled.

"When did you start working here?" A pretty girl with dark hair and a kind smile asked.

"Today actually, I came in here looking for an empty music room and just struck up a conversation with Hunny and Haruhi and here we are." Kat said with an amused grin, elbowing Haruhi in the ribs,

"I admit I was a little apprehensive but," Kat paused and looked the dark haired girl in the eyes, "The idea of seeing you girls everyday_is_ rather _inciting_." The other girl blushed and the rest of them had hearts in their eyes.

"Umm, may we request you tomorrow?" They asked shyly. Kat allowed her golden eyes to glow happily.

"I'd really enjoy that." She replied with a gentle smile. Inwardly, she smirked.

_These girls have fallen; hook, line and sinker._

Kat and Haruhi started talking about their favorite mangas. The girls had asked Haruhi to read them and wanted to know what she thought. They were surprised to find out that the seeming bad-boy had read shojo mangas, but when she explained about her older sister's obsession, they seemed to accept it.

When it was time to switch customers, the dark haired girl (whose name was Aimee) was walking away when she tripped over the edge of the carpet. Kat jumped up and caught her gently, but wincing a little when the girl landed on her sore arms.


	2. Chapter 2: Race Day

And... we're off!

Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(

The Racing Queen Chapter 2: race day!

Kat caught Aimee in her arms and set her down gently

"Be more careful next time."

"O-oh I will" The younger girl's face flushed. Kat sits down and ignores her covert glances.

In fact, for the rest of the time, she was looking at her with hero worship in her eyes. Kat just pretended she didn't notice.

_Finally, the girls are gone,_Kat thought a few hours later with a relieved sigh.

Suddenly Tamaki pops up and hugs Kat tightly. "What's wrong my Kitty Cat?" He asks as he hugs her.

"AHH… let go of me," she yelled jumping, and pried him off, "what the heck do you think that you are doing jumping at people like that? Especially someone you've just met" He lets go, though he looks far from repentant.

"You sighed so I thought you were depressed." He pouted.

She opens her mouth to retort (probably about to question why her senpai always wanted to hug what he assumed was a young boy), but then something smacked her head. Kat looks up to see Kyoya standing over her, clipboard in hand.

"I wouldn't argue if I was you." He said with a deceptively friendly smile. Kat repressed a shudder.

"If none of the guests are here _you_ have no reason to care." She said, with an unconcerned shrug. Kyoya's eyes took on an evil gleam as he adjusted his glasses.

"Oh ho ho," He chuckled, "Has our little _kitty cat_ forgotten who's in charge so easily?" Kat just cocked her head and pretended to consider this a moment.

"Wasn't it _you_ that decided that I was the bad boy type? Maybe I'm just staying _in character._"Kat said mocking him, "Oh whatever, I'm going to change; it would completely kill my rep for anyone to see me in this rig." Sometime during the day, Hunny and Haruhi and coerced her into changing into the uniform.

_What's with him?_ She idly wondered. She dismissed the thought with a shake of her head, quickly changing into her street clothes and leaving quietly.

"Kyoya, why don't you like the new guy?" The twins asked lounging on either side of him as he sat working at his laptop.

"I don't dislike _him_, just his attitude." Kyoya said without sparing them a glance.

Kat had been at the host club for a week or so, and she was beginning to enjoy her role. They still don't know she is a girl, though. Kat figures that after Haru they would not expect the same thing to happen twice.

_I mean, what are the odds anyway?"_She wondered. Today's activities were unusually subdued, because Kyoya was mysteriously absent.

A girl at her table asked, "Kat what do you like to do?"

Kat was reclines in an armchair looking bored, "Well I like to work on bikes," she began idly.

The girls started to daydream, "That's so cool!" One of them said dreamily, stars in her eyes.

Aimee walked towards Kat and bows shyly; handing Kat a lunchbox wrapped in a pretty handkerchief, unable to meet the older girl's eyes.

"Um… I made these for you, will you please accept them?" she asked, blushing furiously.

"Sure, thanks princess." She said taking the box, winking at the girl, and casually examining it. She opened the box and saw it was filled to the brim with gourmet cookies. Kat grabbed a cookie and munched thoughtfully.

"It's pretty good." She said, giving the other girl a lopsided grin. Aimee squeaked and ran away, still blushing.

After the guests have left, the twins decide to play a joke on Kat. They came in to the changing room and yell "boom!"

"Get OUT!" Kat yelled. Luckily, she had just finished changing. She was supposed to meet her mom for shopping after school (ugh) so she was wearing a black turtleneck and dark slacks, with a silver beret, a silver scarf, makeup and several pieces of jewelry. For once, she had combed her hair down, so it was about ear length and pulled back with a silver pin.

"CROSS DRESSER!"The twins screamed, hiding their faces in apparent horror.

"I AM NOT!" she yelled back, "DON'T YOU KNOW A GIRL WHEN YOU SEE ONE?"

Everyone came running at the sound of me screaming at them.

"So...you're a girl?" Tamaki asked, starstruck.

"No, I'm _a hermaphrodite_" she replied scathingly. "Yes I'm a girl, and thank you all _ever so_ much for all joining me in my changing room." They all looked at her strangely, apparently taking Kat seriously. They turned away and walked out. Kat heard Haru say something like, "You act like this is the first time this has happened."

_I knew they would find out eventually,_ she mused, walking back into the clubroom and instantly barraged with questions.

"Sheesh!" Kat exploded, irritated at all the personal questions, "Fine I'll tell you a little about me."

"You guys now know I'm a girl, but I accidentally signed up for school under my brother Kaida's name instead of my own. My father's name is Stephan Khaos, my mother's Hoshi Khaos, my sister's Katrina Khaos and my brother is Kaida Khaos." Kat had just named 4 of the richest people in the world. "I live in a penthouse apartment near them." she says quietly. "My brother owns the building. I didn't know what to tell you because I liked you guys and I rather people not know…." She finished quietly, looking away uncomfortably.

"We won't treat any differently we promise," Hunny said sweetly and tugging her hand, "but now that we know that we are a girl can you sing a lullaby for me to take a nap, please?"

"Sure," She said with a smile and a shrug, "just don't tell Kyoya, got it?"

"Why?"The twins pressed.

"Because," she said, with just a hint of a blush, "I'm pretty sure he already knows and I don't want him telling me to pay my debt and get out."

Tamaki started on a rant about how, as the club king, he would never allow a young lady to be thrown out of the club &c.&c.

Brushing him off Kat took Hunny over to the sofa and laid his head on her lap, tucking him in; then she softly started to sing in a sweet alto voice:

"_Sun goes down and we are here together;_

_Fireflies glow like a thousand charms._

_Stay with me and you can dream forever,_

_Right here in my arms, tonight."_

"_It's magic,_ _when you are here beside me_

_Close your eyes and let me hold you tight_

_Everything that I could ever need is_

_Right here in my arms tonight."_

"_Sounds of day, fades away;_

_Stars begin to climb._

_Melodies fill the breeze;_

_Sweeter, all the time._

_Sun goes down and we are here together;_

_Fireflies glow like a thousand charms._

_Stay with me and you can dream forever,_

_Right here in my arms, tonight"._By the time she had finished singing the lullaby, he was fast asleep.

_Well that didn't take long._ Kat thought, amused.

"Hey, Kat why did you leave America?" Haruhi asked, curious.

"Well, my dad needed to negotiate with a possible partner and we decided to move to Japan; I didn't complain though because it was really good for my family" Kat said, in English "Though I miss America a lot"

"Um, Haru-chan doesn't speak English…" Kaoru trailed off.

"Sorry, I'm not completely used to speaking Japanese. It's hard not speaking in English. I said that I miss America, that's all. Anyway, I have to meet my mother at the front of the school. Later guys." She said as she walked off, waving over her shoulder.

"Did Kat just ditch us?" Hikaru inquired.

"Yes, I believe she did." replied Kaoru, nodding.

At eight-thirty Kat went home to her apartment, stripping off her accessories before the elevator doors even opened into her home. She raced to her bedroom and quickly pulled on a blue and black racing outfit consisting of leather, lace, chains and did we mention leather? She grabbed her black helmet with the tinted shield, and lucky jacket and was down the elevator in a flash.

Across town, Kyoya stealthily closed the garage door behind him and ran his hand over the smooth black finish of his bike. He slipped the matching helmet over his head and adjusted the plain leather jacket before venturing out into the chilly night wind.

He had thought of everything, making sure it was impossible to trace him and installing a prescription shield in the helmet so he could see without wearing his glasses.

Then, he got on his bike, revving the engine a few times just to hear it purr, and rode off into the night. The race was a couple of miles away, near the city limits but it was well worth it and a great night for a ride.

When he got there, the place was packed. It looked like every punk, racer, biker, delinquent and dealer in the city was already there. He parked his bike, and then walked to the check in.

"What's the name bro?" The skinny guy next to the table asked, pen poised.

"Shadow King." The other man's eyes narrowed then widened in shock. Kyoya just walked back into crowd.

As he waited for his name to be called, Kyoya people watched. It was one of his favorite pastimes. He hadn't been waiting long when he noticed that the "Racing Queen" of Gotham had already arrived. She had showed up a few months ago, her reputation opening doors for her even before she asked.

Kat swiftly signed in as the "Racing Queen," Ignoring the whistles and vulgar things some of the guys in the arena were calling out as she sauntered past, she walked towards the friends she had made here in the circuit.

There were four of them. A pair of siblings known as Tiger and Princess, a bookie known as Jack and an a body shop owner known as Aunt Lulu.

"Hey Queen!" Princess called. The older girl was wearing mini-shorts and a tight blue halter, the same color as her hair.

"Hey girl, ready for the race?" Kat asked with a smile.

"You mean, _'Are you ready to eat my dust.'_" Her other friend "Tiger" said laughing.

"Hey you guys always have a chance. A slim one." Kat replied, also laughing.

"What feeling bitter you got beat by a girl Tiger?" Lulu teased.

"Babe, there's nothing to worry about. Your reputation won't suffer just because the best racer since bikes were invented beat you at one measly race." Jack said reassuringly, with a wink towards Kat.

They heard a gunshot.

"Well, 'the game is afoot' guys. See you at the finish line!" Kat said running towards her sleek, sliver bike.

All the bikes were lined up, Kat revved her engine. Her bike was made up of the salvaged parts of a wrecked super bike from back in Gotham when she had been near an accident, and some things her brother's friend Lucius had come up with. There was nothing like it in the world.

"Ready…Set... 'Bang'!" The gun went off, the bikes flew. The race was on!

Murphy and I absolutely adore reviews!


	3. Chapter 3: Friends

Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(

The Racing Queen Chapter 3: Friends.

Kat took off and was rapidly gaining speed. She had left the competition behind in the first lap and was now two full circuits ahead of all the other racers. She allowed herself a moment to take in and enjoy the speed at which she was going, that feeling of time standing still. She was so immersed that it almost didn't register when the sleek black bike came towards her.

_The Shadow King_. He was a local legend. And he was gaining.

Kyoya revved the engine and sped up, the gap between him and _The Racing Queen_was closing.

Kat was beginning to worry, she had never needed to go anywhere near top speed since she started racing in Japan. Gotham races were brutal, and very often deadly. She had installed a few additions to her engine (with Lucius's help) just to be safe. She swerved gracefully around the obstacles, neck and neck with the other rider.

Just when Kat thought she was going to have to give in and take it up a notch, the wails of sirens pierced the night.

"Queen here," She said into the intercom in her helmet, "Get out of here guys! The cops are on my tail!"

"Be careful," Jack said, the sounds of panic behind him, "You've probably saved us big time." Kat jerked on the handles and skidded before driving straight off the ramp and into traffic below, earning a few honks.

"Don't mention it. Just go." Kat easily maneuvered through the traffic, taking a roundabout way back to the penthouse. She was running through her usual precautions to avoid cops, but failed to check for competition. If she had, Kat would've noticed a black bike trailing behind her. She pulled up behind the building to her own private entrance. She lovingly ran her fingers over her bike before taking off her helmet and shrugging of the jacket.

_Well, well, well._Kyoya inwardly chuckled as he cruised past; _Kat Khaos is the infamous racing queen._

Kyoya made a U-turn and drove in the direction of home.

_Such an enigma, that girl._He thought to himself, _One minutes she smirks, swaggers and tosses orders around like she owns the place, next thing you know she's having a tea party with Hunny, Haruhi and that damn rabbit._

He pulled into his garage silently. He ran his finger over the sign of the shadow king his before taking off his helmet and shrugging off his jacket. He walked back inside and trudged up the stairs to his room. He tossed the keys on his table and got into bed, not even bothering to take off his clothes.

_Brrring! Brrring! Brrring!_

Kat groggily opened her eyes, rolling over to look at the clock.

_It was one in the morning!_

Muttering curses under her breath she answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Kat, _cara mia!"_It was her brother Kaida.

"Kai," She groaned, "For the love of God, why are you calling me at one in the morning?"

"Is it really that early? Oops, forgot about time zones." He said sheepishly, "I'm in London with Rina and she's just told me the most _delightful_ news."

"Fine," Kat said with a sigh, "I'll bite. What's the news?"

"You remember Kuon Hizuri?" He asked.

"Hmm. Let's see, do I remember my Uncle Kuon? Nope." Kat rolled her eyes, "But the name sounds vaguely familiar."

"Ha, ha, ha," He brother laughed sarcastically, "You are soo not cute. Anyway, he's asked Rina to do a film with him, since, you know, Grandpa was in the drama and Kuon's playing him, and Rina looks just like Mom and she played the girl. Long story short she's going to be in Japan for three months, starting next week. Christine isn't coming but I'm going for a few weeks." He seemed reluctant to speak of Christine.

"Is she pregnant?" Kat asked bluntly.

Her brother had apparently been taking a drink, because now he couched and spluttered.

"Oh God," Kat smacked her face with the hand not holding the phone, "I cannot believe you've gotten her knocked up. I assume that Rina doesn't know. Is she leaving you?"

"No, thank goodness," Her brother said with a sigh, "She says that she needs some space. That she's not sure she wants to raise a child with a man who doesn't want to commit. I am committed!" Kai said belligerently, "I'm just don't feel the need to go through all the pomp and circumstance to prove that I love her. I love, I've bought a house with her, and now I'm going to have a kid with her! Why isn't that enough!"

"Kai," Kat groaned again, "Look at it this way. You tell her you love her, you give daily physical and verbal prove of your love. But you won't marry her, and she has to wonder if she's doing something wrong. Have you fallen out of love with her? Are you just saying 'I love you' out of habit? Family means everything to Italians, you know that."

"Oh."

"You, dearest brother, are a complete idiot." Kat let out a long breath, "I've got school in the morning Kai, and I need some sleep."

"More late night escapades?" Kai sounded amused, then his voice hardened, "It better not have been with a boy…"

"No Kai! Sheesh, you're going to have a girl. I can already see it." She said exasperatedly.

"You think so?" His voice sounded wistful, "Night Katerina."

"Goodnight _fratello_."

The next day, Kat dragged herself out of bed and made herself a cup of coffee. She glanced at the clock. Noon. She picked up a newspaper. Wait, what? NOON!

_I'm Late!_

Kat got dressed quickly, running a hand through her hair and slipping into a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue, long sleeved tee.

She grabbed her coat and flat out ran to the school. She was just sure Kyoya would use any excuse to get rid of her. She flung open the door to the music room.

Hunny, Mori and Usa-chan, looked up from a tea party, apparently surprised to see her.

"Am I that late?" Kat asked, wincing a little.

"No actually you're early." Hunny said, and Kat sighed with relief as she dropped onto a chair, "Have you hurt yourself again?" He asked.

Kat gave him a sheepish smile, "I lied the day I met you. I come prepared because I get into all sorts of trouble; it isn't unexpected. But no I'm not hurt just tired." Kat's thoughts were drawn to the events of the night before. The race with its unexpected competition and then the phone call, with its unexpected surprise.

"Kat-chan are you sure nothing is wrong?" Hunny asked, seeing her face.

"Hm? Ah, no." She said still distracted.

As the other hosts arrived, they were surprised to see Kat already there, brooding over a cup of tea and glaring into its depths as if the answer to all the mysteries of the universe were hidden inside.

For the most part, the customers left her alone today after finding she would only give monosyllable answers to any kind of attempt at conversation. In fact, the girls seemed to think Kat's brooding and moody behavior was enthralling.

Kat left immediately after activities and stuck her iPod in as she slowly walked home.

After having walked a block, Kat felt someone tug on her jacket. She pulled an ear bud out and looked over her shoulder.

"Oh, Hunny- senpai, Mori-senpai. Sorry, I didn't notice you there."

"We just wanted to make sure you were alright." Hunny said, concern written all over his face. Kat glanced at Mori.

"Yeah," He agreed, in his normal monotone.

Kat sat down on a convenient bench with a sigh, before looking up at her friends.

"I'm sorry I worried you." She said honestly, "I received a phone call last night and it's rather disturbed my peace of mind." She ran her fingers through her hair again, "My brother and sister are coming to see me.

Hunny sat down next to her and Mori leaned against a tree.

"Why would that bother you?" Hunny asked, curious.

"My brother and sister are successful and they care for me, but they have very forceful personalities. I can only take them in small doses." Kat replied.

_And my brother just knocked up his girlfriend._

"What do they enjoy doing?" He asked.

"Well my brother Kaida likes and martial arts and tea, and my sister likes fencing, and shooting, manga, and they both love ballroom dancing. Could I ask a favor of you?" Kat asked suddenly, giving Hunny and Mori a sideways glance.

"Yeah." Mori said.

"Of course, what are friends there for?" Hunny said brightly.

_I guess we are friends…_

"Well, can you help me practice my dancing?" Kat asked giving them a pleading look.

"Sure, right Takashi?" Hunny asked.

"Hai" Mori said with a nod.

Kat pulled herself up, "Are you busy right now?"

"Nope." Hunny answered as he bounced off the seat. He then looked questioningly at Mori, who shook his head.

"My place is right around the corner." She tossed over her shoulder as she led them along the block.

Hunny noted that they were in the commercial district, expensive shops, restaurants and hotels on every side. He was surprised when she suddenly turned into a small alley and gestured for them to follow. It was behind one of the most expensive resorts in Japan.

Kat ran up to the garage door and quickly punched in her pass code. As the doors opened she smiled and said, "Welcome to my paradise."

It was a three-car garage full of bikes, cars and strangely, a vending machine.

"Please come in." She walked over to the far wall and pressed the button for the elevator, "It may look a little lazy for me to have an elevator to go upstairs, but I have the penthouse and 25 flights of stairs is not how I want to start my day."

With a ding, the elevator arrived. The trio stepped in and as the ascended Hunny saw that the walls were glass and the elevator was apparently suspended in the air of the large resort. From his perch on Mori's leg Hunny saw a spa, a bookstore, several restaurants, a water park, and a few full sized roller coasters.

"My brother Kai owns this resort," Kat said, nodding towards the lively scene below, "When I told him about wanting to live by myself, he gave me his penthouse here in the building and built himself another suite of rooms for him and my sister on the floor below. It's kinds minimalist, but I really love living here." With another, _ding!_ The elevator announced the floor. The doors slide open, to reveal a large foyer. Suddenly the sound of an automated female voice filled the room.

"Welcome home Ms. Khaos." It said politely, "Shall I pull up a menu for your guests?"

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" Kat asked the two boys.

"Do you have strawberry cake?" Hunny asked with an in love look.

"Of course we do. Mori, tea?" Kat asked giggling a little at Hunny's expression.

"Yes." He said.

"Marsha," Kat addressed the voice, "Did you get that?

"Yes Ms. Khaos." It affirmed, "I shall alert the chefs to your request immediately. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you." Kat noticed that Hunny and Mori had already gone into the other room. (More like, Hunny had gone and Mori followed him)

Kat followed them in. The whole apartment was basically one large room, aside from the bedroom and bathroom. In the middle of the room, there was a freestanding slate fireplace of immense proportions.

In front of it was the living room. This consisted of several low couches with dark brown upholstery, a striped rug and a glass coffee table.

To the left was the dining room, one long table made of dark wood with a bench on either side, and a tall chair at the head and the foot.

Behind it was the kitchen, which had stainless steel and glass appliances and dark granite countertops.

The area to the right of the fireplace was completely empty, save a large grand piano and some kind of sound board/ computer.

Hunny was zipping around looking at all of the visible rooms at a dizzying speed while Mori made himself comfortable on a couch.

"Open curtains." Kat said to the room at large. The gray curtains, which had previously looked like fuzzy wallpaper, were slid open, revealing three glass walls.

"Cool." Mori said, with eyebrows raised. Kat was slightly taken aback by his willingness to voice an opinion without being prompted. It must have shown on her face because Mori turned to Kat and gave her a genuine smile.

Kat smiled back, "So this is my place. Have you finished your inspection Hunny?" The small boy skidded to a stop.

"Where's the bedroom?" He asked, tilting his head to one side.

Kat turned, hands still in pockets, and looked back at the wall with the doorway to the foyer. It was a dark grey and, to Hunny's surprise, there were two doorways.

"The restroom and my bedroom are through there." Kat said, "Only one bedroom though because my brother felt that either the person he brought home would be either sharing his bed, or would prefer their own suite." Kat rolled her eyes.

A beeping noise came from the elevator. Kat walked back out and pressed a button on the wall. A screen pulled up and showed a man in a waiter's uniform standing in the elevator with a cart of deserts and a tea tray.

"May I come in Ms. Khaos?" Kat pressed the button to open the doors.

"Just put it on the coffee table please." Kat said.

While this was going on, "Takashi do you think this is all of her parent's and brother's money?" Hunny asked.

"Some." Mori replied.

Just then, Kat came back in, followed by the waiter.

"We'll wait on ourselves," Kat said, waving him off, "Thank you. I'll have Marsha alert you if we need anything." She paused and looked up, "Marsha?"

"Yes, Ms. Khaos?"

"Please let Rene into the elevator." Kat said as she handed a now seated Hunny a piece of cake and poured he and Takashi tea.

"Of course."

"Here you go guys. I'll be right back." Kat walked into the hall. She went to her bedroom closet, she ran her finger over the plethora of dresses she owned, till her eyes landed on a short, loose purple knit dress with long sleeves that floated around her as she did a little pirouette.

_Perfect._

Kat located a pair of black leggings to wear underneath and pair of stilettos and glanced in the mirror.

_Not too shabby, Kitty Kat,_Kat said to herself, _Not too shabby at all_

She was so grateful that they agreed to practice with her, she had once been very good, but she had trouble finding a partner that she could work with and wouldn't dance with anyone but the best. She walked back out just in time for Hunny to eat the last bite of the last cake.

_Okay,_Kat thought as she looked at the empty cart, _there were four different kinds of cake and one for each of us. That's twelve. I know Mori didn't eat any. So in the time it took me to grab a dress and come back out, Hunny ate 12 cakes?_

"Shall we practice now?" Hunny asked when saw that Kat had returned. Kat noticed that he wasn't behaving quite so... _immature? Cute?_ For a second, he almost looked his real age.

"Sure, this way." She said leading them towards the area with the piano.

"Marsha, my dancing disk please. The swing." Kat's heels clacked as she whirled around, "Let's start slow, it's been a while for me." She paused and looked at the two boys, trying to decide who would go first. Mori subtly tilted his head towards Hunny.

"C'mere Hunny." Kat paused, "May I call you Mitsukuni?"

"Sure Kat-chan." Hunny said with a small smile.

Kat stood poised as the Music started, a slow note played by the trumpet. Hunny offered his arm and she stepped close.

_Right, right, right. Left, left, left. Apart. Together._

They repeated these basic steps a few times before Kat and Hunny started adding some simple twirls and dips. The music was fun and fast paced.

Kat's hair product seemed unable to withstand the speed at which she was moving and Mori noticed that her hair curled gently around her ears.

Secretly, Mori and Hunny had both wanted sisters, but there had been nothing but boys in the family since Mori's mother (Hunny's Dad's sister) had married his father.

Kat twirled away from Hunny for a moment as the track changed to a rumba. Hunny kept up with her for a while but he stumbled as it got more complex. She stopped.

"Here let me show you." Kat said gently, and started to dance with an invisible partner. Mori recognized the dance so he stepped up to the invisible partner's place.

"You have some serious skills." Kat said to Mori as he dipped her.

"Thanks." Mori said with a small smile.

Kat was silent when they danced, she felt so at ease when they where there. She was doing this dance perfectly, completely at ease. Her face was radiant with her enjoyment. This was one of the few truly feminine traits of hers; a passion for dancing. Hunny and Mori could see girlish side of her, and they thought no less of her than when she was her usual snarky self.

"Ms. Khaos?" Marsha's voice called as the track ended.

"Yes?" Kat stepped away from Mori and he grabbed a water bottle and towel laying nearby, wiping off his face.

"Forgive my intrusion," Marsha said apologetically, "But they forced me to let them in. I couldn't very well say no."

"Wait, who?" Kat looked around, and saw Mori and Hunny. Then she noticed something, "Mori," She asked, suddenly suspicious, "Where did that water bottle come…?"

"Katerina, darling!" A male voice called from the living room.

"Kai?" Kat whipped around the corner and ran into her older brother's chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck, "It's wonderful to see you! But I thought you said you weren't coming until next week?"

"Plans changed." Another voice said close to her ear.

"Lucius!" Kat started in surprise, "Oh excuse me. Kai, Lucius, meet my friends Haninozuka Mitsukuni and Morinozuka Takashi. Mori, Mitsukuni this is my brother Kaida Khaos and his best friend Lucius Fox."

Kaida Khaos was a slightly intimidating man. He was a good six five and had the body of model, long red hair that he wore in a lose ponytail and dark indigo eyes. He rather reminded Hunny of a certain actor he was acquainted with…

Lucius Fox was a middle aged African American man, with graying hair and a mustache. He was quite a bit older than Kaida but they were close friends despite their seeming lack of shared interests and very different personalities.

"Kai, would you play a waltz for me?" Kat pleaded with a puppy-dog pout.

"I'd be delighted." He said scuffling her hair.

An hour they practiced, until Hunny and Mori had to get back to their homes for training. Kaida was unusually quiet. They were sitting in the living room; Kat was talking to Lucius about what was happening back in Gotham.

"So let me get this straight," Kat said with a laugh, "In the six months I've been gone, Bruce Wayne has managed to burn his house down?"

Lucius nodded with a wry grin, "Seems strange doesn't it?"

It was very strange now that Kat thought about it, Bruce Wayne was very close to Kai's age and Kat had seen him at social functions. He acted like a playboy, sure. But Kat knew lots of people who put on public personas. She looked at Lucius, who was gauging her expression, and got the feeling that he thought it was odd too.

Shaking her head, Kat changed topics, "So the bike is still riding like a dream."

"Is it?" Lucius grinned, "That thing is probably one of my best works, you've got enough technology to launch a missile with that bike." Lucius was teasing, but what Kat didn't know was that it wasn't that far from the truth.

"I almost hit a spot of trouble the other night." Kat said, lowering her voice, "I was neck and neck with the local hotshot and the cops showed. I ended up having to drive straight of the ramp into traffic. Have I ever thanked you for the custom shocks?"

"I don't know why you would," He said with a chuckle," you built them, I just let you use my shop."

Kaida was gazing at Kat with a fond expression. She turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

"Rina threw you out didn't she?" Kat asked dryly.

"Err… Why would you suggest that?" Kai innocently asked. Kat snorted.

"Because I know my sister."

"Yes, well, Rina called Christine to ask why she wasn't coming to Japan with us and Christine told her. I was then told, in four different languages, that I was a no good playboy, and that the only thing protecting me from names like 'swine' 'bastard' and 'son of a' female dog," He finished, upon seeing Kat's expression, "Was that she didn't want to insult herself by association and other lovely little comments like that."

"You know you deserve it. Just wait till Mom and Dad get a hold of you." At suddenly grinned with malicious pleasure, "No, just wait till _her_ parents get a hold of you." Kai visibly paled and the other two laughed, both knowing it wouldn't be long now till Christine had a ring on her finger.

"Kitty, there's something else you need to know." Kaida said with a suddenly amused smile

"Yes?" Kat asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Uncle Kuon and Kyoko-chan are having a kid." He said, smile still in place.

Murphy and I will give reviewers sparkly digital cupcakes!


	4. Chapter 4: Oh No

Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(

Chapter 4: No!

The club was already over for the day and Kat had a joyful countenance, completely lost in her own world.

Flashback:

"_Seriously?" Kat asked, ecstatic._

"_Yup and he's coming to visit, in fact the shoot is right here in town." Kaida told her with a smirk."_

"_That's wonderful!" Kat tried to look overjoyed but she was rather nervous too. She loved him, but he was scary when he was ticked, and she seemed to have a talent for pushing him too far._

BANG!

Kat looked up from a conversation with Aimee to see her brother (Wearing designer clothing and looking very model-like, as always) and sister (Wearing a flowing indigo day dress and dangerously high heels and matching bag) sashay through the doors of the host club.

It was a Monday and Kat had agreed to wear the boy's uniform once a week, so she always wore it on Monday's to get it over with.

Kaida was obviously looking for Kat among the hoards of girls wearing the ridiculous uniform. When he finally caught sight of her wearing the boy's uniform, he looked slightly annoyed, but as he took in the situation the annoyance on his face changed to rage. He literally snarled. Kat looked around for what he was looking at. Then it hit her.

_Well if my little sister was cross-dressing and surrounded by adoring girls, how would I feel? Not to mention Tamaki romancing 20 girls at the same time, the twin's unnatural behavior, Hunny, Haruhi, Mori and Usa-chan having tea and Kyoya writing in his little book, this place didn't look like somewhere I would want any sister of mine in._

Kai started purposefully towards the other hosts, so I casually walked in front of them, just in case, but Rina took control of the situation first.

As Kai walked past, Rina snagged him in a headlock

"Little bro, Nothing is going on that would compromise Kat's honor, okay? We've talked all about these boys." Rina shook her head sadly, "This is why _he_," Rina winked at Kat, "tells me things, but not you." Rina's eyes sparkled with merriment.

Her sister was a beauty, with long, dark, silky hair, a porcelain complexion, and a full, mature figure. The only thing that was off about her appearance was those eyes that were so full of mirth. One of them was a light gold the same shade as Kat's eyes and the other was the indigo of Kai's eyes. The effect made her look almost inhuman. Unfortunately, that was probably the least scary thing about her.

Rina let go of Kai unceremoniously and went to give Kat a hug; immediately earning glares from the girls in the room. Rina chuckled upon noticing and coolly glanced around her at the girls, who shivered under Rina's intense gaze.

"Rina, you look ravishing, as always." Kat said, looking her sister over.

"Thank you my dear. Now are you going to introduce me to these handsome friends of yours or will I have to do so myself?" Rina asked with a fond smile.

"Of course. This is our prince, Tamaki. The twins are Hikaru and Karou, the tall silent hunk over there is Mori," Kat sent him a teasing smile, "The little blonde is Hunny, the one with the big eyes is Haruhi, and he," Kat waved vaguely at Kyoya, "is our VP Kyoya."

"Absolutely lovely to meet you all. I'm Kat's older sister Katrina Khaos." Rina said, looking covertly at Haruhi. The customers in the room visibly relaxed.

"It is an honor, Madame, to welcome our dear friend's family to our little club." Tamaki said, taking and kissing Rina's hand. Rina had a gracious smile, but her eyes were bemused; slightly unsettling Tamaki.

"Rina, we're late." Kaida said tapping this watch.

"Fine, fine," Rina said, waving a hand dismissively at him, "This is our _brother,"_Rina said mockingly, "Kai Khaos." The girls immediately switched their attention from swooning over Tamaki to ogling the young master Khaos's godly older brother. Tamaki pouted.

"Kat we're going to have to run and pick up Uncle Kuon." Rina said apologetically, "I just wanted to stop in and say hey, while we were in the neighborhood."

"Don't mention it." Kat said with a smile, "I'll go with, since you'd just be coming back here to get me and I can't have all four of us in the same room with all these other guys. The girls would have fits!" Kat said as she ran towards the changing room.

When she came out, she was wearing a grey plaid hoodie, a white shirt with a blue and silver dragon motif with distressed black jeans and rare blue and white converse. She was feeling unusually nostalgic towards American punk fashion. Kat walked to Hunny and Mori and quickly whispered something to them both while Kyoya watched on annoyed.

_Who does she think she is?_ He thought with irritation, (though it annoyed him greatly when she did almost anything at this point) _She and her crazy siblings causing a scene and then just walking out like nothing happened._

"Later." Kat tossed that over her shoulder as she strode out the door, prompting a sigh from the female patrons. Kyoya casually glanced out the window as the siblings walked out the front, seeing Kat shake her head and walk away from her the car the other two were getting into.

Kat listened to her iPod as she walked to the garage, humming along with the music, she reached up to punch in the code, but to her surprise, it was already unlocked.

Kat shrugged and went up the elevator to the apartment. After a customary greeting from Marsha, Kat walked inside. She was unconcerned because no one could get in without knowing her password and very few people did.

"Hello?" Kat said waiting for an answer.

"Hey, Kat." A voice behind her said.

She quickly turned around to see Lucius, she smiled.

"I'm surprised Marsha let you in. Has she forgiven you for the time you tried to dismantle her?"

"Kaida put in a good word." He said with a smirk, "He told me to watch you, so here I am watching a pretty face."

"Flirt. So how's the family?" Kat asked playfully, with a sparkle in her eyes.

"They're doing fine; the kids really miss you though." Lucius said.

"They're little angels; you should've brought them with you." Kat said smiling remembering his little girl and boy. "I guess you want to see the bike?"

They rode down the elevator into the garage to see the sleek silver bike that said Racing Queen in blue detailing.

"This is The Racing Queen." Kat said stroking the seat reverently.

"She looks even better then the last time I saw her; did you touch up the paint?" Lucius asked.

"Yes I did. I did some more detailing and it's a lighter sliver but that's all." She said.

For a while, they just sat there looking at the bike. Lucius suddenly walked towards the bike, then leaned down, squinting.

"Is something wrong?" Kat asked.

"You got dirt on the bike that's all." Lucius said standing back up. Kat had a feeling that he was telling a white lie, but she let it slide.

Kat looked at her watch absently, "I should get to bed. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I don't know, maybe." Lucius said, with a distracted look.

Kat's eyes narrowed, "Well just let yourself in, but don't touch this bike until I get here. Play with whatever else you want, but _not my baby._ Capeesh?" Lucius nodded, but Kat turned on the defense mechanism on her bike.

He had a rather odd light in his eyes, and whenever Kat saw it, it meant trouble. She was afraid she would come home tomorrow to find her baby dismantled on the floor, so that he could see how it worked. Kat had no idea how he could've spotted the adjustments she had made so easily!

Lucius escorted her to her room and bid her goodnight before riding down the elevator to his own room. Kat slowly drifted to sleep thinking about the all babies that were coming.

When she woke up on Saturday, she felt energetic. Stretching, Kat slipped on her robe and out on some Carmen to listen to over breakfast.

She busied herself with alternating between piano practice and maintenance on her bikes. She was working on a particularly challenging piece when the door buzzer rand out. Curious as to who would be looking for her at this hour, she pulled up the screen.

_Gulp._

_Uncle Kuon doesn't seem like he's in a very good mood today._ Kat thought to herself as she opened the door with a smile.

"Uncle Kuon, what a surprise!" Kat said, giving him a hug, "How's Kyoko?"

"She and the baby are just fine," He said with a smile, "How are things going?"

"Pretty good." She said as she led him in to the living room, "I'm becoming very grateful that Mom and Dad forced us to become fluent in Japanese."

He sat down on the sofa with a serious expression.

"Speaking of your parents, guess where I was this morning?" He said with a pleasant smile, that couldn't quite mask the scary aura.

"I couldn't possibly guess." Kat said sweetly, attempting to display the same level of control he did.

"I was having breakfast with your father." Kuon began slowly.

"Oh?" Kat said, prompting him to continue

"Yes, he seems rather upset about this arrangement; in fact he seems to feel that you're avoiding him. Don't you think sixteen is a little young to live along?"

"Not really. I like this setup very much." Kat replied bluntly.

"Well that's actually not what I came to talk about," Kuon said, the anger lessening, "are you working?" he asked.

"I earn some money here and there." She replied vaguely, wondering where this was going.

"Well, it just so happens that a modeling gig I'm doing needs an understudy, and I think you would be perfect for the job. What do you think?" He was telling more than asking, like he expected her to be thrilled.

* * *

><p>Murphy: Peace out!<p>

Nikki: You're so not cool!

Murphy: Cooler than you!


	5. Chapter 5: Act onGet away

Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(

Chapter 5: Act on!

Hey Kassi/ Murphy here. This is five and six for my sisters readers. I wish to tell you that so you don't get freaked out.

* * *

><p>Kat gritted her teeth. Her parents, once again were attempting to meddle with her life.<p>

_Of course he thought I'd be thrilled. All he knows about me is what Mummy and Daddy dearest have told them about their sweet and obedient daughter,"_Kat thought cynically_, "But I have to give them props for convincing Kuon to do it._

"Please allow me to consider and get back to you..." Kat was outwardly calm, but seething underneath the façade.

If Kuon noticed her anger, he didn't comment.

"I'll be looking forward to your response." He said calmly, standing and showing himself out.

He glanced back up at the tall glass and metal building, where the lonely young woman lived. He understood that something wasn't right between Kat and her parents, that she would take such drastic measures to avoid them. Perhaps they weren't the most outwardly affectionate people in the world, but they loved her nonetheless.

Kuon shook his head and slid into his silver car.

_I hope she realizes what she's missing._

Kat couldn't believe her parents, couldn't they leave well enough alone? She didn't want to be a model, or a ballerina, or a fashion designer. She didn't want to be a princess or to be waited on hand and foot.

She wanted to be herself.

As Monday rolled around, the other club members had noticed her despondent attitude and the twins had taken it upon themselves to irritate her back to normal.

"So Kat," the twins asked, one sliding a hand around her shoulders and the other playing with her hair as it brushed her ear, "We feel like we haven't gotten enough alone time recently. Can we come over to your house later, Hm? Maybe play some games?" Kat looked into their mischievous faces and saw the underlying concern. Her face softened.

"Why don't you go torture Tamaki's teddy?" She replied, hoping to distract them.

The twins understood what she was trying to say and backed off; surprising Haruhi, who had been watching the exchange.

Suddenly a black hooded figure loomed in front of Kat.

"Fu fu fu fu fu." The obscured man in front of her chuckled, displaying a cat puppet, "Why don't you come down and visit the black magic club? We have a special on voodoo dolls designed to curse those who have incurred your wrath."

Just talking about magic seemed to excite him; he was bouncing like the twins on a sugar high.

Kat turned with her usual swagger and smirk, but spoke politely enough, "Thanks for the offer, but I prefer face to face confrontations. To each their own, Y'know?" Kat said, offering a hand to the stranger, who hesitated, before allowing his puppet to shake her hand.

The twins came up behind him with demonic grins and flashlights in hand.

The stranger cowered and attempted to shield his puppet from the light.

Kat whirled around to face the twins, "Cut that out!" She barked, "He obviously doesn't like it!"

The twins looked startled by her sharp reprimand, but devious grins slid onto their faces, "Aww, did our little kitty-Kat just bark?" They said with sickeningly sweet voices, "Poor Kat, I think we're finally cracking her."

The other man's ears almost visibly perked, "Cat?" He swerved to examine her more closely.

"Oh yes," They smirked, "This is our newest member, Kitty-Kat. With a 'K'."

"You must be the Cat goddess incarnate!" The hooded man said with something that sounded like … awe? reverence?

Kat pondered upon this, "It would explain a lot." She admitted, "Kat's always land on their feet."

Somehow, everyone recognized the "Cat" she was referring to started with a 'K"."

Kyoya noted this and filed it away for future contemplation.

Oblivious as ever, Tamaki flung the curtains open, "It's so dark in here! We must allow the light to fully display my beauty to the world!"

The fan-girls clapped at his dramatic pose.

_And where__did__those rose-petals come from?_Kat wondered.

She looked around and noticed the caped student had disappeared. She shrugged and idled over to "Mom's" side. She quietly observed the host's antics for a few moments.

"Kyoya how _do_ you ignore them?" She asked looking confused.

"By not paying attention to their fooling around, if something important happened I would hear it." He said obviously annoyed with the question.

"Oh, so it's not_all_ about money." Kat retorted, even though she understood why he liked it.

"That's none of your business, is it _Kitty Cat_?" He rejoined, smirking at the nickname.

Kat bristled; she only tolerated that nickname from Tamaki, the twins and Kai because she couldn't change their stubborn male minds.

She closed her eyes to regain control of herself, but when she opened them and saw his vaguely smug expression…

She saw red.

And retaliated with the first thing that came to mind…

She took the black book.

She snatched it from him and ran, tossing a taunting expression over her shoulder.

_Catch me if you can!_

Kyoya went rigid with shock. (And so did everyone else for that matter) No one, _NO One touched the book_!

His aura grew dark, and Kyoya rose slowly from his chair, without looking up. When he did, Kyoya's expression was enough to send even the twins behind the couch.

A bright gentleman's smile was ensconced on his face.

The sight of it instantly chilled her; reminding her eerily of Kuon, Kai, Rina, and her Mom.

She tried not to show it, though.

_Maybe I__should__give it back,_Kat toyed with the idea, _Wait, why should I? Get it together girl!_

"So is this a dairy or a business journal?" She casually asked, trying to be calm as he stalked towards her. She didn't open it though, Kat didn't really want to invade his privacy, just wanted to draw him out instead of trading taunts. She let him come over to her.

She contemplated that this may not have been her best plan. Certainly not very well thought through.

He circled her. Once. Twice.

_Bang!_

Kat found herself with her back pressed against the wall, her world totally dominated by the sharp-eyed young man with a hand on either side of her face.

Kat nervously brushed a strand of her hair away from her face in an unusually feminine gesture.

He leaned in closer, his breath teasing her ear. "You want to rethink that decision?"

Kat felt any and all confidence abandon her in that fleeting moment. And strangely weak kneaded.

Meekly she offered him the book, giving him an apologetic look.

Kyoya felt an unfamiliar emotion tugging at him. When she gave him that repentant glance, his fury drained away.

He chuckled softly and ghosted his lips across her forehead, in a whisper-soft kiss.

He froze when he realized what he was doing and backed away hastily, replacing his glasses and leaving a shell-shocked Kat behind.

At home, Kat slumped against one of the couches and looked down at the bustling city.

Her reasoning abilities had been long since worn out, quantifying and qualifying the scene in the clubroom that afternoon.

With a sigh, Kat heaved herself off the couch and grabbed the phone off the wall.

_Beep._

_This is Hizuri Kuon's cellular. Please leave a message and I will return you call as soon as possible._

_Beep._

Kat gazed out the windows again, "Hey Uncle Kuon." Her eyes gleamed with determination.

"I'd like to meet in person to discuss the details, but I'd love to take the job."

At the shoot Kuon checked his phone for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.

He sighed as he scrolled through his messages, not really expected his niece to respond, when he dropped his phone in surprise.

With a light blush, Kuon scooped his phone back up, making sure no one had noticed.

He listened intently to the message and immediately texted her the address to a restaurant not far away, nearly blinding everyone with intensity of his delight filled smile.

Kuon failed to notice that he was being carefully scrutinized.

Yashiro was watching the scene before him, while hacking in to Kuon's phone with his laptop.

He scrolled through the usual messages and found an unusual one.

_Katerina Khaos._

Yoshiro smiled.

_Bingo!_

After the shooting Yashiro drove to Kat's house. He wasn't acting with any nefarious intent. The president and Kyoko-chan had approached him a few days ago with a mission.

They were concerned at Kuon's lack of focus and his usual inability to discuss personal matters, even with Kyoko. They had simply asked him to determine the cause of his stress and investigate a bit.

Impressed by the elegant and expensive glass and steel hotel, Yashiro punched in the security code into the elevator.

_Ding!_

Kat walked over to the door and was surprised to see a strange man in the elevator. She briefly debated whether to let him in or not, but decided she could take him, if necessary.

She buzzed him in and allowed him to step inside.

Yashiro almost did a double take at the sight of the lovely young woman in front of him, apparently dressed for an evening out, in a gray, form fitting dress with capped sleeves and slivery-grey stilettos. Her hair was pulled away from her face with a clip and her startling golden eyes made up in smoky colors.

_He couldn't be having an affair?_ While outwardly composed, Yashiro's mind was reeling, _Not when Kyoko has just found out she's pregnant!_

She gestured towards the doorway and walked out into the living room with Yashiro dogging her steps.

They stood facing each other, assessing, sizing each other up.

Yashiro made the first move.

_After all,_ He thought, _I am the one intruding._

"Am I addressing Katerina Khaos?" He asked. Kat nodded the affirmative.

"My name is Yukihito Yashiro." He began, "and I work with…"

That name rang a bell, "You're Kuon's manager aren't you?" He opened his mouth to respond, when…

_Ding!_

"Shall I let Mr. Kuon in Ma'am?" Marsha's automated voice intoned.

Kat glanced at the near trembling Yashiro and smiled slyly.

"Yes." She purred, "Let him in."

Kuon strode into room, looking like he had just walked off the runway in his designer dinner jacket and black slacks. (Actually, he just _had_walked off the runway) He stopped short when he saw who Kat was standing with.

"Yashiro?" He asked incredulously, before his expression darkened, "How did you get this address?"

Yashiro was shaking like a leaf. The scariness had completely surpassed gentleman's smile and even BJ. This was full blown fury.

"I... er," He glanced down at his watch, "I-I'm late for an a-appointment! Gotta dash!"

Before he had quite left them room, he glanced over his shoulder and was aghast at what he saw. The lovely young woman was embracing Kuon!

_Oh poor Kyoko,_He thought as the elevator descended, _I'm not sure even you can compete with__that!_

"Hey Uncle Kuon." Kat said as she released him. "I got your message; ready to eat?"

He smiled warmly at her and offered his arm.

As they were seated at the restaurant, Kuon began to describe the shoot.

"This is a fashion and cosmetics shoot for Tenacity Ltd. or Nebarizuyo-sa Gentei."

Kat glanced up from her menu, "Trina's company."

"Yes," He inclined his head, "You would be working almost solely with me and you would probably be forced into a wig and colored contacts."

Kat cocked her head, "Would that work? Usually the commercials are supposed to display romantics or flirtatious behavior. And I'm really not sure I'm comfortable with that."

Kuon seemed to have considered this, "You can create a character, correct?" Kat nodded. "Then you'll have to do so throughout the duration of the project, take on a false name, the whole nine yards."

Kat smirked at a sudden thought, "And have to deal with my name being linked romantically to yours, despite you being married."

Kuon smiled as his niece saw the whole picture, "Exactly." He agreed.

"When do we start?"

Kat ran down the empty corridors with a sigh. She had overslept _again_ and was late to first period.

As she turned the corner, Kat came upon a scene that seriously irked her already precariously unbalanced temper; two upperclassmen harassing a frightened freshman girl.

Kat allowed her book bag to slip to the ground and prepared to make quick work of the boys, then leave.

_But wait…was that Aimee!_

"Get off me." Aimee screeched hysterically, struggling with everything she had and Kat felt a rush of respect for the usually timid girl, to be putting up such a fight.

"Who's gonna make me girlie?" One of the boys taunted, "No one comes to this part of the school,

Kat silently stalked up behind him and slammed a hand against the wall between him and Aimee.

"Aren't you supposed to be in class, little boys?" She taunted with a dark smile.

"I think the foreign punk is trying to mess with us." The larger (and obviously less intelligent) of the two said.

"I'd have to agree Mondo." The rather weasely looking boy replied, cracking his knuckles, "Maybe he needs a lesson in international relations."

Kat smirked, "Hey that's for the offer and all but," Kat helplessly gestured down the hallway, "Aimee and I really need to get to class, so I'll be generous and give you some options. Either get the hell away from her and leave her alone, or, "She cracked her knuckles menacingly, flexing, "Your own mother won't be able to recognize you. Your choice."

"Die Punk!" Mondo yelled, swinging his fist. Kat caught it and dug her nails into his skin painfully. He let out a yelp and the other one aimed a kick to her side.

Kat grabbed the wrist of the hand restraining Mondo and swung him into the weasel.

They rose unsteadily, and began again.

One aimed for the face and the other, the gut. Kat easily dodged.

"Oh please," Kat yawned and feigned boredom, "Is that all you got?"

Again and again they tried to land a blow and Kat continued to evade them.

However, the weasel did something Kat wasn't expecting.

"Stop or the girl get's it." He snarled, holding a knife the throat of the sobbing girl.

Kat froze, allowing Mondo to land a good uppercut on her jaw. Gingerly she touched the it and winced, it would definitely bruise.

Kat stood fluidly and narrowed her golden eyes dangerously. It one swift movement she had flipped over Mondo and had the weasel pinned to the floor, one arm behind his back and the knife in her hand.

She knocked them both out swiftly, slamming their heads together.

As they slumped to the ground, Kat immediately picked up Aimee and ran swiftly to the nurse's office.

As the girl sobbed, Kat tightened her grip around her and tried to relieve the tension, "You certainly are a handful." She said with a gentle chuckle, "But I'm glad to have found you in time. Even," She teased, "If it does make me late." Aimee managed a watery smile.

Kat ended up missing more than first period. She had to identify the two guys _and_ fill out police documents _and_ talk to Aimee's grateful parents _and_Aimee refused to let her leave until she was discharged from the hospital wing.

All in all, it had been a very stressful day.

Now she was hoping for a nice quiet cup of tea and some nice, calm conversation…

_Damn._

"Oh Kitty-Kat," Tamaki and Hunny sobbed, embracing her tightly, "Are you hurt? Did they touch you anyplace weird? Do you need a blanket for shock?"

But Kat couldn't find it in herself to be irritated with either of them and instead, just hugged them back.

"I'm alright." She repeated over and over, "I'm alright. Nothing happened."

"You have a bruise on your jaw that says otherwise." Haruhi said quietly.

The twins were immediately by her side with dead serious expressions, Mori standing right behind them, "We'll kill them."

"I'm fine. Really." She stepped away from Tamaki and Hunny, ruffling their hair affectionately, and stepped into the twins embrace.

They were really torn up by the idea of her getting hurt. Kat had never seen them this serious before.

Still holding onto the twins, she leaned forward and kissed Mori's cheek.

He blushed, but cracked a smile even as he looked away.

A little while later, and Kat remembered something.

"Maledizione, I forgot!" She jumped up and pulled seven envelops out of her bag, "these are for you guys." Kat said as she handed one to each of the hosts.

Hunny ripped his open, and started to dance around,

"Party, Party, Party! We're gonna have a party!" He sang, swinging Mori around.

~A few hours later~

Kat watched on in amusement, when her phone buzzed. She glanced down at the number and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hello?" She answered, in English, "Trina?"

Kat seemed to fold into herself as her knees gave way.

"How is that possible? She was perfectly healthy last week!" She cried. Her voice filled with anguish that caused everyone to turn towards her in alarm.

She listened intently a moment before uttering an, "I understand."

She felt a tear course down her cheek as she closed the phone with a _snap!_

She didn't see the fracture along the side of the phone or the shattered screen inside, though _everyone_ noticed when she threw it into the wall with enough force that it shattered.

On unsteady legs, Kat hoisted herself off the ground and stalked into the other room, slamming the door behind her.

The girls were confused and a little alarmed, but their heart went out to the sorrowing American gentleman.

Sitting down at the piano, she poured her feelings into the most heartrending operas she knew. She silently wept even when she could no longer see the keys; unaware that Mori and Haruhi were directly behind her until Mori placed a hand on her shoulder.

Kat quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

Haruhi had never seen the self-possessed young woman look so distraught.

"I…" Kat said slowly, "My Grandmother… She was ill apparently… and… and…" Kat couldn't finish, she hung her head and angrily struck a discordant chord.

"Ah…" Mori said trying to comfort her.

There had been three people that listened to her and could comfort her in her family, but now one, the dearest, was gone. Kat started to cry silently again, she welcomed the embrace of her friends.

"Thank you," She said after a few moments, "So much. I think need to go home. Tell everyone I'll call."

"Okay." Mori said giving her a rare smile. Kat sadly smiled back as they stood up and went their separate ways.

Kat slipped off her uniform and put on her silk blend nightgown and robe.

_Gold,_ Kat reminisced, _her favorite color; just like my eyes._

She wanted comfort, not style. She asked Marsha to screen her calls and to only let family and the club in or out.

She grabbed a bottle of red wine and a glass and set them on the glossy black piano, pouring her heartache into alcohol and song.

_Now I know I won't see you any more,_

_And I feel that I missed all those chances to take more time you._

_I'm sitting here feeling sorry myself._

_All my memories of you keep flooding back._

_I can't keep the pain out of my voice._

_I wish you could help me through, but now I'm sitting here crying out._

_I thought you taught me better,_

_But right now, it seems that I can't remember anything but you._

_I will miss you._

_I miss you._

_I can't remember anything but you._

"Ma'am Mr. Ootori is at the elevator.." Marsha said.

"Oh… let him in." Kat said with an unsteady laugh.

"Hello, I didn't expect to see you at my door." She tried to smile, and failed miserably.

"Tamaki got worried when you didn't come back and I was relegated to check on you." Kyoya explained.

"How did they make _you_?" Kat laughed, leading them to the living room.

"Mori can be quite… persuasive," He stated as nonchalantly as if mentioning the weather, "he seems quite attached to you."

"I'm not even going to ask." Kat grinned and poured him a glass of wine.

_Kyoya's flashback_

"_Go check on Kat." Mori stated. Kyoya glanced up from his work and shivered under the older boy's oppressive gaze._

_He didn't dare disagree._

"_Very well." Kyoya said, snapping his laptop shut and texting his driver._

_Everyone gawked at Kyoya and Mori, taken aback by Kyoya's easy compliance._

_The twins were conspiring in a corner, pausing occasionally to watch the shadow king gather his possessions._

_Haruhi was just surprised that Mori had used polysyllables._

The sound of Kat's voice drew him out of his reverie.

"My grandmother was the one of the only in my family who ever asked what I wanted," Kat said wistfully, skimming her thumbs over the rim of her glass, "Whether just for dinner that night, or my big dreams." Kat found herself opening up to Kyoya. She wasn't sure why, but she sensed he had experience with familial expectations.

"Do you know that my mother has never once asked me what my favorite color is?" Kat gave a short, bitter laugh, "She thinks it's blue. Apparently it was _her_favorite color when she was my age."

Kyoya quietly listened to what she said and more importantly, what she _wasn't_saying.

If her mother felt the need to dictate even something as trivial as her daughter's _favorite color,_ he didn't want to imagine what her childhood had been like.

"That's why I came here," Kat continued, gesturing at the roomy penthouse, "I wanted to prove to them I wasn't just a cookie cutter kid." She gazed broodingly at her glass, one hand gripping the stem.

"We're leaving." Kyoya announced as he stood, pulling her with him.

Kat glanced down at her attire, but shrugged numbly, "Let me grab my stuff."

Nikki: They're actually holding a civil conversation! Maybe there's hope for them yet!

Murphy: Le Gasp!

Reviewers are the things that keep writers block at bay! Help the writer out!

Murphy: What she said!

To RandomNinja239, cosplaylover, Chishio chuudoku and lachicgeek : Thank You for reviewing! I'm so glad you liked this story!

To acir tools : Yay! Digital cupcakes!


	6. Chapter 6: Physical Exam!

To radioactivepenguin13:Thank you! Yeah, I can't see anyone besides Hunny disagreeing with him, ever. Just part of his charm I suppose. :)

To cosplaylover: Thanks! I'm going to aim to update once a week, it just depends how well Murphy and I happen to be working that week.

To 4: Thanks for reviewing! Interesting happens to be one of my favorite words.

To SOME ONE YA DONT KNOW: Thanks! I agree, it _is_ sad. I'm going to have to ask Murphy why she enjoys plot sad plot twists so much one of these days.

To Murphy: Girl we live together, there are lot's of faster ways to get a hold of me!

To R Unworldly: I appreciate the compliment! It has been a bit of work collaborating with someone whose writing style is very different than yours, I'm glad to hear it paid off!

Disclaimer: The Khaos's are entirely my own, but I possess nothing and no one else. :(

Chapter 7:. Physical Exam!

"What where are we going?" Kat asked.

"For a ride." Kyoya answered.

Kat smiled, he definitely knew how to cheer her up. They went down to the garage and she followed Kyoya to his black bike, swinging herself onto the back. He revved the bike and roared off.

Kat didn't recognize the area, they were traveling through. It was mostly residential, but on the wrong side of the tracks. He kept going straight down a road lined with small homes that looked a little worse for wear, but lots of kids were playing on the sidewalks and at a small park they passed. Then Kyoya turned suddenly and drove down a short drive next to the railroad tracks before pulling sharply into a parking lot.

It was a little ice-cream parlor, with picnic tables and colorful umbrellas and signs.

"This is unexpected." Kat remarked offhandedly.

"If you don't like it, you may walk home." Kyoya said flatly.

"Don't think you're going to get rid of me that easily." Kat quipped with a smile.

They went in, and Kat looked around her. It had little round laminated tables and polished stools.

_A cute little setup,_Kat thought with a faint smile. She was so busy looking at the parlor itself that she didn't notice a table full of guys blatantly checking her out, but Kyoya did.

_Those classless idiots,_Kyoya fumed, _had better keep their eyes to themselves._Kat eagerly walked up to the counter; pulling a more reluctant Kyoya by the hand.

"I'd like a strawberry sugar-cone please." Kat told the gent behind the counter.

"I'd like an unsweetened ice tea." Kyoya interjected.

"Thanks." Kat said quietly after they had sat down..

"Don't mention it." Kyoya sipped his tea and watched her eat her ice cream with a quiet smile. Kat finished munching her ice cream cone and got up to throw the wrapper away. As she was walking to the trash can, the table of guys from before started harassing her and she glanced over her shoulder and gave them a frigid look, before tossing the cone and making her way back to her table.

Most of the boys got the message and went back to their ice cream, but a few of them were more tenacious (and stupid).

"Hey baby," One of the cretins, shouted, "You know you want me." He made an obscene gesture with his hands and his pelvis.

Kyoya began to rise, but Kat had it under control.

"You've got me," Kat said with a sexy smile and looking up at him through her eyelashes, "I want you to leave." Her features morphed into a cold sneer and she walked back to her table.

"Oh, burn." His friends laughed.

Kat just ignored them and looped her arm through Kyoya's and they walked towards the exit.

At the door, Kyoya paused and took off his glasses, before turning to the boys.

The laughter dried up as they noticed him; turning into stone in their seats from over-exposure to _The Demon King._ With a self-satisfied smile in place, Kyoya slid his glasses into place and opened the door for an amused Kat.

Arm in arm the walked to the bike.

"Remind me to never make you mad Kyoya," Kat said with an appreciative appraisal of his lean form.

_That time didn't count…_

"My turn to drive." Kat added brightly.

"Whatever…" Kyoya responded, a small smirk lingering on his face.

Kat rolled her eyes.

_He and Rina are so alike it's almost funny._ Kat thought.

The rest of the evening when by quickly, and the couple was thoroughly enjoying one another's company.

Kat took Kyoya to a shop for Bikes called Heaven and Hale. It was a family owned shop with three employees, Heaven Hale, Chad Hale, and Holly Hale. Holly was Chad and Heaven's daughter. Kat and Kyoya walked in, ringing the little bell above the door.

"Hey Chad, Heaven." Kat greeted the couple with a smile.

"Hey Kat, we got that special order in yesterday." Chad declared from behind the counter, his sandy hair bouncing in excitement, his wife was standing in front of him and waved.

"Great," She smiled and Kyoya and pulled him forward a bit, "You guys this is Kyoya." Kat said gesturing at Kyoya, "He's a friend from school."

"It's a pleasure madam." Kyoya said with one his killer smiles.

"Hello, there," Heaven said with a light blush, "welcome to our little store."

Kat only narrowly avoided snorting, they owned one of the most promising bike accessories chains around the globe, with major presences in: England, America, Italy, France, Spain and, most recently, Japan.

Kat wandered to look at helmets, while Kyoya took in his surroundings. _They have some nice stuff for such a small store._He thought. He walked up silently behind Kat.

"Which one do you like best?" He asked close to her ear. Kat jumped a little and Kyoya smirked.

"Sheesh, can't a girl go a day without getting the living daylights scared out of her." Kat pretended to be mad.

"You didn't answer the question." Kyoya said still smirking and leaning against a shelf.

"This one," Kat told him, pointing to a simple chrome helmet. "It'll match my bike."

"I like this one." He returned, pointing to a flat black one.

"I wonder why?" Kat retorted. It matched his bike (and his sense of humor) perfectly.

After Kat grabbed the package on the counter, and they left after waving to the couple. The sun was beginning to sink behind the horizon and they traveled back in silence. As the air gained a chill, Kat unconsciously snuggled closer to Kyoya, causing a shiver to run down his spine (and not from the cold!)

"Thanks for this Kyoya" Kat said as she dismounted. He was pulled up outside her garage, the empty alley illuminated by the light outside the door.

"Like I said before," Kyoya said, reading her expression thoughtfully, "Don't mention it." He paused and revved his engine, before fishing something out of his back pocket and handing it to Kat.

His card.

"My personal number's on the back."He told her, looking out at the busy traffic going by before giving her another sharp look, "Call me if something comes up with the funeral or your parents," he said seriously, hesitating a moment before continuing, "Or if you just need to... talk to someone, call me."

And with that he sharply turned and drove away, leaving her, once again, rather flustered.

She rode back up to the elevator in contemplative silence, thinking about Kyoya and his unusually warm behavior towards her.

It wasn't quite his host personas, it was more sincere then that; but from what she had gathered, it was unusual for him to do anything without receiving something in return. She ran her hands down her sides, considering.

_He wouldn't expect..._ Kat quickly dismissed that thought and decided to let the matter rest.

_After all,_Kat considered with a pang of guilt, _what kind of granddaughter am I if I could so easily be distracted?_

As Kat lay down on her bed, contemplating her eventful day, she smiled and fell asleep with the happy thought of the support of her friends.

The next day she showed up to music class early, no one had yet entered. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, Kat sat down in front of the polished grand piano, appreciatively stroking the keys.

She warmed up with some very basic scales, major and minor, before playing a sonata by Beethoven that she adored.

She was so enraptured with her music that she never noticed other students entering the classroom, or the teacher.

When the last chord faded, Kat rolled her shoulders and glanced up, tensing when she realized her audience.

"Sorry about that Ma'am." Kat said apologetically as she ran a hand through her hair and straightened her uniform.

The teacher raised an eyebrow. So _he can play that well when no one's around, but is failing my class._ She thought, considering his behavior in class.

"Care to explain?" She asked rather sarcastically, irritated that someone so talented was slacking off.

"It's not you Ma'am," Kat said calmly as she stood and stretched, "I just don't need approval or recognition for something I'm aware I'm good at."

She eyed him skeptically, "So you're purposefully failing my class?"

"Yes and no." Kat said as she slid into a seat next to Tamaki, "I'm not actually planning on failing the class, I've got the numbers projected already." Kat was saying that she planned on doing well enough that her parents couldn't complain, but not so good that anyone would make a fuss over.

"Well, as it just so happens," The teacher said, "I have a solo for our next concert and..." She smirked, "You've just got yourself the part."

Kat shrugged and proceeded to lean back in her chair and fall asleep, "Whatever…" She murmured.

Kat was rather annoyed actually, the last time she had been recognized as the prodigy she was, her parents had started making plans for her to train for a career in that field. That wasn't what she wanted at all, she played for herself and no one else

As Kat made her way down the hall, she noticed the corridors were relatively empty. Spotting Kyoya ahead, she called out for him to wait, which he did, scrolling through his texts.

"Where is everyone today?" She asked as they walked together, "All the classes are empty."

"Physical exam day." Kyoya replied absently.

"What's that?" Kat asked as they walked to the hospital wing, and she opened the doors gently.

"Where-." Kyoya didn't get to finish, as rows upon rows of doctors and nurses bade her welcome.

Kat looked rather panicked, "I don't want to know." She stated firmly and attempted to walk right back out the doors. Her plan was foiled, however, when Kyoya grabbed the back of her collar and literally dragged her into a separate room labeled, "Special Boys Clinic"

"You and Haruhi will be examined here." Kyoya informed her in a 'I'm all business' voice, "The doctor is from one of my family's private hospitals and has been sworn to complete secrecy." With that, he turned and left, clipboard in hand.

Kat took in the professional space and shrugged. Didn't look so terrible.

"You can go into one of the changing rooms and undress." The Doctor said without sparing her a glance as she filled out some forms.

"May I wait for Haruhi Ma'am?" She asked. The doctor looked up at this and smiled.

"Of course."

Haruhi walked in momentarily, or depending upon how you looked at it, was thrust inside by a tall blonde blur that Kat assumed was Tamaki.

"Hey Haruhi," Kat greeted the Japanese girl with a grin, "Kyoya said we're stuck in here."

"Right." Haruhi replied with a smile of her own.

Haruhi grabbed the changing room next to the window and Kat the other.

As she undressed, she thought how nice it would've been if she had gotten some warning about physicals. She wouldn't have worn lace panties.

Kat froze as she heard Haruhi's muffled squeak of alarm and a low, hushed, _male_voice coming from her changing room.

Immediately Kat thrust the dividing curtains aside, to reveal a ragged looking man in a white lab coat with a hand over Haruhi's mouth.

"Well well well," Kat sneered with her trademark attitude (or at least as confident and cocky as one can be when confronting a man while in your panties), "Who do we have here? Sir, I don't believe you're authorized to be here, so if will step slowly away from the girl, I won't be forced to take drastic action."

Suddenly the curtain was thrust aside as the boys rushed in.

"Katerina!" Kyoya shouted at the same moment Tamaki yelled, "Haruhi!"

The doctor turned and broke down at the sight of so many furious glares. "I'm sorry" He sobbed, "I'm just trying to find my daughter!"

He began to pour out his life story and slowly Kat found herself softening a tad towards the unlucky man.

"Someone get him a map," Tamaki ordered softly, for once acting his age.

Kat had to smile. She had never seen him so… kingly before.

Kat felt a jacket fall over her and glanced up in surprise. Kyoya was standing over her, but looking firmly over her head.

She blushed, realizing that all of the boys had seen her in a purple lace bra and panty set. She pulled the coat tighter and looked at this strangely mature version of Tamaki.

She couldn't help but muse, "You think he's a clone?" Earning her a chuckle from her companion.

She smiled at the scene as Haruhi ordered the boys out. What a day.

~While this was happening~

Yashiro was telling the President about his discovery.

"So I think he is cheating on Kyoko with…" He paused dramatically "Miss Katerina Khaos."

The President, much to his surprise, started to laugh.

"What's… what's so funny?" Yashiro asked.

"You- you thin…" He broke down into guffaws again, before clearing his throat and straightening, though his lips were twitching suspiciously, "Katerina Khaos is Ren's niece." The President said, with another chuckle.

Yashiro mouths hung open. He couldn't believe it.

"But…But…"

"Right now she, under alias, is modeling with us."

Murphy: Not talking to you right now Death.

Nikki: _What about the next chapter!_

radioactivepenguin13


	7. Chapter 7: Attack of the Lady Manger

Chapter 8: "Attack of the Lady Manager!"

Kat curiously peeked around the door of the seemingly abandoned club room.

"Guys?" She called, slipping into her normal soprano, "Anyone?"

She walked in and began looking around. At a sudden rustling, she whirled around, only to be tackled and have a sack shoved over her head.

A little while later, Kat found herself flung to a chair and bound at the wrists.

"Please!"Kat begged her relentless torturers, "Not that! Anything but that!" They struggled to subdue her, panting heavily.

"It's just a kimono, jeez." Hikaru huffed, struggling with her wrists.

Kaoru grunted his agreement as he dodged a kick, "Even Haruhi wasn't this difficult. What's with these girls?"

Even after Kat's valiant struggles, she was forced into a gorgeous sapphire and emerald kimono and hair extensions. The boys stood back and admired their handiwork with satisfaction, but Kat sulked.

"You guys are worse than my sister." She huffed, pouting at the very feminine ensemble.

The girls loved the outfits, but it seemed that the boy's were especially melodramatic today, tears flowing like wine.

Haruhi and Kat were puzzling over it together, when Haruhi accidentally bumped into Hikaru. A small bottle dropped and skidded across the polished floor, right at Kat's feet.

She picked it up and read the label, "Industrial Strength Eye-drops." Kat raised an eyebrow at his explanation and she and Haruhi shook their heads.

The twins gave Haruhi candy as appeasement, which Haruhi (And Kat) refused.

"Do I look like I want to be on what're you're on?" She demanded when they offered her some, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye.

A girl was cautiously peeking into the club room, scanning the crowd. Kat glanced at the twins, who nodded and approached the girl.

Kat wandered back to her own customers, who 'ooh'ed and 'ahh'ed over her cosplay in an annoying prattle.

All thoughts of the strange girl had already left her head, only to be brought back with a vengeance at the sound of a resounding 'Smack!'"

Kat's head whipped up just in time to see the girl fling herself at Kyoya with a shout.  
>"Kyoya it's you, I have been longing to meet you, my one and only prince charming." She shrieked as she raced into his arms.<p>

The Host club closed early so we could have a 'meeting'.

"So… you're his fiancé?" the twins asked, looking at her warily, like she was some kind of wild animal.

"Of course." She said superiorly, "I am Renge Houshakuji, in Ouran Academy's first A class tomorrow."

Kat was rather bored by the obviously deluded girl and noticed 'Daddy' pouting in the corner. She sidled up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Tamaki I'm not sure I mentioned this at the time." She said to him quietly, "But, I thought it was really cool of you to help the Quack out."

No response.

"Hello?" She waved a hand in front of his face and snapped her fingers.

No response.

"Are you even alive?" She wondered aloud as she began poking his shoulder furiously.

"Why's he sulking?" Kaoru asked his brother.

"Because Mommy kept a secret from Daddy." Hikaru replied, with a shake of his head.

"I still don't see why everyone insists on referring to us as husband and wife." Kyoya complained.

"Ours is a story of love at first sight." Renge began dreamily, "I absolutely adored the way you admired the flowers when you thought no one was looking, or the way you reached out to that poor injured kitten."

"Is she legit?" The twins asked, incredulously.

"Do you have the wrong person?" Haruhi asked, also bewildered.

"No way, I could recognize my love anywhere." Renge replied sharply. She began ranting about who he was and at this point, Kat was completely tuning her out. She was more worried about the 'King'.

After having exhausted herself poking him, she got a wicked thought. Leaning over, she whispered in his ear, "Haruhi is playing strip chess with the twins."

He immediately snapped out of it, with a startled, "What?"

The twins kept interjecting a bewildered, "Who?" into the rant every so often. But Kyoya just stood there, blankly staring at her.

"And he looks like the dating Sims star 'Uki-Doki Memorial'! You're my real life hero." She finished, turning towards Kyoya with adoring eyes.

"I get it now." He smoothly pushed his glasses up his nose, "You're in love with the character, and projecting that love on to me, somehow deluded that we are engaged. Let me guess, this character wears glasses as well?"

Kat began chuckling and flopped down onto the chair beside him.

"Your 'fiancé' is a bit touched Kyoya." Kat told him with a grin.

"So…" The twins asked, "You aren't engaged to her?"

"I don't remember asking for her hand in marriage, and frankly, this is the first time I've met the woman." He replied flatly.

Renge situated herself on the other side of Kyoya daintily glaring at Kat even though she still though she was a guy.

"I understand from my research, that you are the manager of this club." Renge said to Kyoya.

"Yes, Kyo-chan is our director!" Hunny said brightly.

"You're the club director. That's perfect; I have also wanted to advertise a business!" She told him.

"We don't advertise, we're a host club." The twins said.

"I've made up my mind. From now on I am going to be your manager!" Renge announced, obviously not listening to them.

Kat just turned towards Haruhi with a cocked eyebrow.

"Um… listen, Kyoya-"Tamaki began.

"Miss Houshakuji is the only daughter of a very important Ootori client." Kyoya cut him off, "So please be polite and try not to offend her, alright?"

"No," Kat told him sharply. "I'm not listening to her. No way."

"I'll give you that part you wanted for the 'Queen." Kyoya bribed, with a sly smile.

"Free of charge?" Kat asked cautiously.

"Completely." Kyoya promised.

Kat sighed, but replied, "Deal." and shaking his hand firmly.

"Well boys, I can't wait to work with you." Renge announced brightly and everyone besides Mori and Kyoya grimaced.

~The next day~

At the meeting for the host club the where talking about the new manger.

"I thought about it last night," Tamaki told the club, "And I think having a lady manger might not be a bad idea."

"Why would you say that?" the twins asked, completely skeptical.

"It's obvious isn't it? Renge just transferred into the same class with Haruhi. If Haruhi has a girl friend around it might bring out her more feminine side." Tamaki replied promptly.

"Tamaki Suoh," Kat said dangerously, "Try it and I swear I'll box your ears."

"I mean," He prattled on, completely blowing her off, "She doesn't have many friends in class right now except for these shady twins."

"Oi! What am I then, huh?" Kat asked him sharply; she and Haruhi shopped together and hung out often. Truth was, she was much more feminine outside of school than in.

Tamaki shot her an apologetic look, for once not being quite as self-absorbed as usual.

"Like you have any room to talk." The twins shot back, with venom. Just then, Renge bounced in.

"Excuse me boys, you'll be happy to know that your new manger made cookies for you." Renge said happily.

"I am so awed by your gracefulness and your ladylike ways." Tamaki admired.

"I didn't make these for you, phony prince." Renge spat, venomously glaring at him.

Kat smacked her forehead as Tamaki sulked in the corner, again!

"I hope you don't mind that I burned them a little." Renge said, standing in front of Kyoya. "I did the best I could and I already know what you're going to say, 'Anything you make is delicious, my dear' Oooh… you're always so sweet to me Kyoya!"

"She's right. These cookies are really burnt." Hunny remarked, a little crossly.

"Don't eat those Mitsukuni. They're bad for you." Mori scolded him and taking the cookie.

"That may be the longest sentence I've ever heard him say." Hikaru mumbled in dazed amazement.

"He's right Mitsukuni," Kat said gently, brushing blonde curls away from his face," I packed you some cake. I made it especially with you in mind" She really did adore spoiling the little guy.

"AAAHHH!" Renge screamed, charging Mori , Hunny, and Kat.

"Waaaah… She's scaring me!" Hunny cried piteously.

That was when Kat applied the brakes, whirled around and confronted Renge furiously, "Stop that!" She told the younger girl sharply; "You're scaring him!"

Haruhi tried a cookie cautiously,

"Actually they don't taste that bad." She told them, surprise evident.

The twins got a wicked idea.

"Can I try?" Hikaru asked with a smirk, biting the end off her cookie.

"Haruhi dear," Karou told her gently, "You have crumbs on your face." He licked them off smoothly.

Tamaki stood up and began yelling, while Kyoya mused, "And suddenly the classmates are closer than ever before."

"You know you could have just told me and I would have wiped it off," Haru complained, "and if you wanted to try one there are plenty here."

Tamaki grabbed her face. "That's not the way you're supposed to act Haruhi," He berated her, "stay strong and causally brush them to the side."

"That's sexual harassment senpai." Haruhi told him flatly.

Kat glanced over and grinned at the other girl, "So's what the twins were doing dear." She told Haru with a wink, before turning back to telling off Renge.

Tamaki went off to his corner, (dubbed by Kat and Haru as 'The Corner of Woe') and the twins attempted to calm him down to the best of their ability. (That is, make it a whole lot worse.)

Hunny came shyly up to Renge who had stopped chasing him, after Kat had let her have it.

"Renge-chan, want some?" He offered her a pretty teacup, "Its milk." He stated happily.

"Lukewarm…" Renge muttered distractedly.

"Huh…" Hunny was confused.

"EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, except my darling Kyoya, ALL OF YOUR CHARACTERS ARE LUKEWARM!"She yelled.

Hunny made a small, 'Eep' and dove behind Mori.

"Each one of you needs to have a dark side understand?" She plowed on, "Girls are vulnerable to guys who are troubled. I you keep going on like this it's only a matter of time before the girls get tired of you and stop coming altogether, are you trying to ruin my precious Kyoya's business? As your manger it is my duty to change your character backgrounds, let's start with you." She pointed at Hunny. "You're as cute inside as out, but you're no better than a baby. Therefore you are the baby-faced thug."

"Ahhh!" He shrieked, clinging to Mori and 'Bun-Bun' even tighter.

"Mori-senpai! You're his childhood friend: the flunky. And you two," She whirled toward the twins, "Will be basketball players enslaved in their own world. Haruhi! You're the honors student who is always bullied. Tamaki, you are the school idol admired for your looks but you're actually the lonely prince. Kat, you are actually a girl and have fallen for Kyoya and he's leading you on unendingly. Ah… and Kyoya you're perfect just the way you are so be as kind and affectionate as always, okay?"

"Thank you. I'm honored." Kyoya replied coolly.

Then Tamaki dramatically posed, "The lonely prince, it's true, that title is perfect for me."

"Yeah right." Haruhi scoffed, "that title couldn't be farther from the truth."

Kat laughed at that, but said, "And look at me, she wants me to play a woman! Sheesh, my original character can be dark enough."

The twins pulled Kyoya over to them.

"Come on Kyoya senpai," Hikaru pleaded, "Do something." His brother finished.

"Why, it seems like the boss," He pointed at Tamaki. "Is up for it."  
>They all turn towards Tamaki, who was practicing lonely faces.<p>

"What do you think Renge?" He was like a puppy, begging for attention, "Are these good poses for a lonely prince?"

"You're pretty good at this Tamaki," She said grudgingly, "You know what would be better, though? If you where in the rain!"

"What do you want to bet she's hoping he catches hypothermia?" Haruhi muttered to Kat, who nodded with a grimace.

"Let's just see how things turn out. It could be interesting, it usually is." Kyoya told the twins, after a moment, plots whirring almost visibly in his brain.

Renge started to make her movie and no amount of complaining on the part of the Hosts would sway her.

Thing were actually going pretty well until Hunny and Haruhi's scene. Hunny just couldn't bring himself to say such mean things to his 'Haru-chan' and ran to Kat,

"Kat-chan," He sobbed, "I don't want to say mean things to Haru-chan!"

Her heart ached for the kind boy. "Mitsukuni," She murmured, tilting his chin up to meet her eyes, "it isn't real. We understand that you would never say such things, and Haruhi won't mind. It's just pretend." Kat soothed.

He blinked up at her, a few tears slipping down his cheeks, "Promise?" He asked her tremulously.

"Promise." She said firmly, tightly hugging him.

Renge began yelling at Hunny, but two fierce glares from both Mori and Kat quickly sent her over to the producer.

"Kyoya and Kat we will be doing your scene next, so prepare yourselves." Renge yelled, her megaphone screeching unpleasantly, even louder now because she was a little jealous even though it was a movie.

Kat and Kyoya stood behind the school building, Kat facing away from him. The camera zooms in on Kat's face as she tremulously brushes a long auburn lock behind her ear, tears silently trailing down her face.

"Kat, I'm sorry," Kyoya says, with a pained expression. He doesn't even look at her, but away, towards the greens, "I just don't feel that way. Wait! Come back!" He snaps his head back towards her as she attempts to run away, and his hand snakes out to grab her wrist and pull her against him.

"Let go of me." Kat's voice is low, and shaking with combined humiliation and fury. Her hand trembles, fisting and unfisting, "I hate you, I hate you!" She shouts, whirling to slap him with her free hand, which he catches. Both pant and glare intensely for a few seconds, till Renge yells.

"And CUT! Perfect! We're done with your scene."

Tamaki and Haruhi were talking idly and the twins were talk amongst themselves. Mori on the other hand, was still trying to calm Hunny down enough to do the scene.

"Haruhi you're on." Renge shouted.

"Yes, Raja." Haruhi muttered, before shouting, "Coming!"

A little while later, Kat noticed something that made her eyes narrow. Renge was with two guys, the same ones she had trounced for trying to hurt Aimee. She began walking towards them, when something Hunny said distracted her.

'BANG!' Kat whirled towards the noise and immediately began sprinting towards her friend, followed by the other hosts.

When she got there, Haruhi was crying, bent over on the ground and Renge was bending down to her. The two boys shifted nervously, when they the large group of guys running towards them.

"What the hell did you two do?" Kat snarled at them, immediately taking a defensive stance in front of Haruhi.

"Which one of you jerks started this?" Tamaki seethed.

"Wait Suoh, it's not what you think! That girl started it." He was pointing at Renge.

"It's true senpai," Haruhi agreed, "they were provoked." As Tamaki knelt in front of Haru, the two boys made a dash for it.

Kat grabbed one of them by the shoulder, but he shook her off, knocking her off balance and inadvertently slamming her headfirst into the wall.

She felt oddly dizzy as she slid down the wall. Turning towards Haruhi, still concerned for her friend's well-being, she felt a sharp pain in her skull and a pleasantly numb blackness soon overcame her.

At the same time, everyone discovered that Haruhi's contact had fallen out, causing her to cry.

Renge was completely beside herself. "You… you… please tell me you got that on film cameraman?" Renge begged.

"Yes ma'am." The Cameraman replied dutifully.

"Other than Haruhi's contact falling out," Renge sighed happily, "That was the perfect final scene."

Glass suddenly shattered. Everyone (Besides Kat) looked towards the origin of the noise and found Kyoya had smashed the camera-lense with a rock.

"What did you do to my camera?" The cameraman lamented.

"What, is something wrong?" Renge asked, and for the first time seeming unsure.

"I'm sorry," Kyoya said coolly, readjusting his glasses, "but I can't allow there to be record of a club member engaging in violence. I think you've caused enough trouble Renge, so please stop being such a pest."

Renge was absolutely distraught. "A pest? But I don't understand," She wept pathetically, "You're supposed to pat me on the head and tell me not to worry! You're supposed to be kind and affectionate, Kyoya! Why are you acting so differently now? Tell me why!"

"Because," Tamaki said seriously, "that's not the real Kyoya." The twins nodded violently in agreement.

Renge fell to her knees in front of Kyoya, still sobbing.

"Does it really matter? Who cares if Kyoya is a little different than you expect him to be, take a good look at the person inside, and get to know him little by little. It's lots more fun that way." Haruhi bent down to tell the other girl.

Suddenly the twins shouted, "KAT!" in alarm.

Kat came to on a bed in the hospital wing, she attempted to sit up, but fell back heavily on the pillow as the room spun around her. Someone pulled back the sterile white curtains and helped adjust her pillows so she could sit up. She sighed gratefully, and tried to open her eyes once more.

As her vision cleared, she could clearly see who had come to her assistance: Kyoya.

"How do you feel?" Kyoya asked her, pressing a surprisingly gentle hand to her forehead, causing Kat to notice the icepack placed there.

She took this opportunity to glance around the room she was in, sterile, blindingly white and filled with medical equipment. Soft daylight filtered in through the open window and a refreshing breeze cooled her flushed face.

"I've been better." Kat replied with heavy sarcasm and a smile.

He smiled wryly, no doubt contemplating that her sense of humor (or lack thereof) hadn't suffered from her injury.

She noticed that the nurse wasn't there.

"I'll get a new ice pack." She said, reaching for the box on the table beside her, but Kyoya got there first, his hand brushing hers. They turned to look at each other and their heads collided.

Kat quickly realized that their lips were touching, and leaned away from him. Kyoya smirked.

"What're you smirking at?" Kat teased, "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it?" It probably should have occurred to her that playing games with the shadow king is dangerous.

"Maybe I need to refresh my memory." Kyoya said with a wicked, heart melting smile.

Kat let his lips brush hers lightly, before she pulled back and carefully stood.

"Sorry, you've already filled your daily quota."She quipped, before walking very slowly away.

~ Several days later~

"Tamaki we bought your video." The girls squealed a few days later.

"Really?" Tamaki beamed, pleased to be the center of attention again.

The simpering females Kat was forced to call customers dithered on and on about how kawaii the movie was, till she nearly wanted to strangle them. But, keeping her cool, she received the praise for her part graciously, with a few of the heart melting smiles she was becoming known for. Her fans knew of course that Kat could never be a girl.

"Kyoya?" Tamaki asked, puzzled by the videos.

"Well, when I smashed the lens, the footage we got wasn't damaged. Naturally, I just edited out the violence scene. The film crew really did a great job, and sales are going beautifully." Kyoya explained to him.

"So is this what you meant by interesting?" The twins asked, both rather amused.

"Well, we have to pay for this extravagance of a club somehow." He replied.

And just when did he start calculating this? Haruhi thought.

Renge bounced in and greeted the club, and then began declaring her love for Haruhi. Kat was watching her with something between disgust and amusement. She was distracted from the tirade when she felt her jacket pocket buzzing and pulled out her sleek little blackberry.

One incoming message.

Kat selected the message and quickly scrolled through. Apparently the model she was competing with for the role became mysteriously ill, so Kuon was congratulating her on having successfully gotten the role. She scrolled down a bit more and lifted her eyebrows. Well that sure was a lovely, round number.

Smirking to herself, she immediately noticed that Renge was dragging Haruhi away. Kat leaned over to Kyoya.

"Do I want to know?" She asked him, eyeing the two with trepidation.

"Probably not." Kyoya replied, typing furiously away on his laptop.

~3 days later, after school~

Kat was zooming off the highway exit towards her sister's studio. Casually pulling up in front of the building, she took off her helmet and tossed her keys to the startled doorman, informing him that any damage to the bike would be taken out of his salary.

Kat let herself in and gazed around at the chic décor, she spotted her sister across the rooming speaking to a petite blonde.

"'Lo Trina." Kat greeted her sister with a hug, "Sorry I'm late."

"5 minutes late. I'm afraid I might have to sue you." Trina teased, hugging her back tightly.

Kat just grinned and turned towards the bubbly looking blonde with large and painstakingly made up green eyes.

"This is Anne Robasdan, She's the make-up artist you'll be working with today." Trina then gestured to Kat, "This is Mariah Hill, the model we were enough lucky to get a hold of last minute."

"A real pleasure to meet you!" Anne said enthusiastically in English, traces of a Scottish brogue evident in her voice.

"You too." She replied with a friendly smile. Trina, Kat and Kuon had discussed what this alter-ego of hers should be like, and they finally agreed on Mariah Hill, a friendly, modest and sweet American woman that was trying to make a name for herself.

That's why instead of the usually punk clothing, Kat was wearing a dark pantsuit with a cream colored turtleneck and string of pearls. Her red hair curled gently around her face and her make-up was subtle; the whole effect overall was professional but still innocent and feminine.

Anne circled Kat (Mariah) and pinning her with an assessing gaze.

"I think we'll go brunette with…" The Make-up artist paused and considered, "amber eyes, Trina."

"Whatever you think is best, Anne." Trina readily agreed. Anne's eye shone with the light of inspiration and she quickly hurrying Kat down the hall.

"Let's make you a fashion plate."Anne said cheerfully, as she tossed open the doors to the dressing room and steered Kat inside.

Ten minutes later Kat was unrecognizable. She had turned into a lovely young woman, mid-twenties, with a delicately pale complexion and a tumbling mane of dark curls. Soulful amber eyes lined in kohl glanced about at the hustle and bustle. Adjusting the charcoal pea-coat and crimson scarf, she walked over towards her director and co-star, unable to resist a little twirl.

"How do I look?" Mariah asked with a giggle, slipping into her role.

Kuon smiled warmly and kissed her hand "Stunning, Mariah, as always."

"Ms. Khaos I'm very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this commercial." She told the owner earnestly, "I'll do my best."

"You'll do beautifully." Trina replied with a laugh.

_The commercial opens to a city at dusk, the skyline already twinkling with lights in the semi darkness. The scene moves to a lonely pedestrian bridge, crossing a dark river; two figures are silhouetted against the sky, which is velvety blue with lingering streaks of red and orange. We get close enough to see the man and a woman, both silently looking out over the water, the only noise the splashing of the water and the noise from distant cars. The blonde man examines his companion out of the corner of his eye; dark hair and scarf swaying gently in the breeze, dark eyelashes contrasting against porcelain skin and dreamy amber eyes gazing at the horizon. The man turns back to the view, but slips his hand over hers. The woman turns and, seemingly gathering her courage, leans over to kiss the man on the cheek. Last second, he turns to face her and the kiss lands on his lips. Both freeze, but slowly they wind themselves around each other and deepen this kiss. The scene moves slightly, all you can see of the couple is the woman's hair and scarf being teased by the wind, then words appear on-screen. 'Urban Kiss by Tenacity Ltd.'_

An hour or so after the shoot, Mariah was finally released from wardrobe and into the world. Trina was sifting through some paperwork on a nearby couch, but looked up with a smile as Mariah, (Who was Kat once again) walked over.

"Great work today!" Rina told the younger woman with a smile, "We got all the necessary footage today, so you're off the hook."

"Great!" Mariah (Kat) beamed, "I'll see you when we do production shots then!"


	8. Chapter 8

The administrators of are as of June 4th going to be taking down Fics that have lemons or have extreme violence. Now I don't know about you but I think thats stupid. There are many wonderful fics that only have one or two lemons in them yet the plot itself is awesome! You can't just take down a 100,000+ word fic just because it has a lemon in a chapter that is only 1000 words long. Now I urge you all to read the petition below, sign it, and repost this to your own fics. Hopefully if we make enough noise everything will return to normal. Thank you.

Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.

Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.

For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.

It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.

If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.

While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.

For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.

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The Dark Graven

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Kassandra Khaos


	9. Chapter 9: The twins fight

Chapter 9: The twins fight!

Hunny, Mori, Karou, Hikaru, and Haruhi were all at Kat's house after she came back from the commercial.

"Someone get me the damn bleach!" Kat yelled from the bathroom were you could hear furious gargling, spitting, brushing, and rinsing.

"You can't put bleach in your mouth-" Karou started

"-That's considered toxic." Hikaru finished for them.

"I don't care just get me it!" Kat yelled

"No."

"If you don't get me I swear-"

"Kat." Mori said finishing the subject.

"Fine, but will someone get me brain bleach then."

Hunny cautiously peeked his head in the door way and ran in.

"Kat-chan! You can't use sandpaper on your face!"

After thirty minutes then got Kat to sit down and talk. It was ten before then left her and she had gone down to just shuddering every once in a while.

A week later…

Flash back:

"_Let's make a snowman together." A little girl said._

"_Which one are you talking to?" Hikaru asked._

"_Both of you, of course." The little girl said._

"_There's no one name "Both of us" here." Karou said flatly._

"_I'm talking to you, Hikaru- chan, and Karou- chan." She replied._

"_Okay then, which one of us Hikaru and witch one is Karou? Can you tell?" They asked together._

End of flashback.

The twins get up from a bench. Then say together.

"Let's play the which one Hikaru game."

The girls laughed and clapped.

"Now then, can you tell which one of us is Hikaru?" They said.

"Oh this is hard," A girl with black hair said.

"They look too much alike." Another girl said.

"There has never been a girl who could really tell us a part." They stated a matter of fact way.

"What a stupid game" Haruhi commented.

"Huh? Something you don't like about it?" They asked her.

"It's just not that." She said turning around. "I just don't see how you two are so popular"

"That's telling us." They said walking to her. "Apparently, Haruhi doesn't… understand the merits of having twins in the host club."

"Listen here." Karou said. "Just having a couple of good looking homosexuals earns plenty of high points. And making a show of teetering between that and friendship is also desirable."

"But in our case, being twins," Hikaru continued. "We get to use the most forbidden of taboos as a weapon. On top of that, the scenario of having two people, who have such deep, ties to each other, loving you at the same time."

" Is the ultimate young woman's romance, right?" Karou finished cupping a girl's face.

"Bull…" Kat said sounding out every syllable slowly.

"Ah… I can't bear any more." She said in her own dream world. With the other fan girls screaming. The twins smirked at Haruhi. Tamaki suddenly rushed out of nowhere at them.

"Hikaru! Karou!" he screamed.

"Huh…" They said.

"I let you have control of the club's homepage on the condition," He paused dramatically. "That you would take it seriously."

And you thought they would? Kat thought.

"And we are taking it seriously-." Karou said.

"-We were up until dawn working on it." Hikaru finished.

"And this is the screen you made!" He yelled. Putting a laptop in their face, on the screen it had a picture of Haruhi for shoulders up and it looked as if she was shirtless.

"Haru-chan you look great." Hunny said.

Kat laughed then asked. "Did you guys make that it is really good, hey what version of Photoshop did you use?" It was obviously a composite picture.

Haruhi was frozen in shock and Mori took Hunny away from the circle of fan girls while Tamaki was in his own world thinking that they bribed her. "When?" He questioned." Did you take nude photos of Haruhi?" he suddenly said 'is that what you did' repeatedly.

"You're intensely delusional" The twins replied. "It's a composite photo of course."

"Composite." Tamaki repeated.

"We did a good job did we not," Karou said

"Magnificent skill if I do say so myself" Hikaru finished.

"You idiots! What a wasted use of your skill! Have some shame!" Tamaki yelled. Kat was sitting on the couch watching in amusement. Haruhi was still frozen in shock.

"If you are going do it, compose her with this idol photo collection." Tamaki said showing them a photo book.

"That would be silly, sir. It would be quicker… to ask her directly to wear that stuff." They said.

"Y-yeah I could ask her." Tamaki said walking up to her. "What do you think of this?"

"Why do you have that?" Hunny asked.

"Haruhi-kun looks fantastic." A fan girl said. "Still, like Tamaki says, I'd sure like to see Haruhi-kun in woman's clothes."

"Haruhi-kun is so cute I'm sure they would look great on him" another fan girl said.

Haruhi finally unfroze and glared at Tamaki and he started to cry and backed away. She sighed.

"Will you stop composing pictures without my permission?" She said. "Just what do you take people to be?"

"Hm… isn't it obvious, toys." They said. "So you in order to enjoy an otherwise boring life you need some stimulating toys."

"I am not a toy." Haruhi said.

"Toys…" A dark figure said for a crack in the door.

"Hm…" the twins said looking at him.

"Toys… toys… If you like toys then all means come to my club, the black magic club. We've opened a marketplace of the world's black magic curios."

"Oh… him. Morning" Kat said nodding to the figure in black.

Tamaki suddenly turned around and looked frightened.

"If you come now I'll make sure to give you this handsome curse doll." He said obviously ignoring Kat.

"Why is he talking through a crack in the door?" Haruhi asked.

"For that matter, has there always been a door there?" The twins said.

"Nekozawa- senpai doesn't like brightly-lit places."Kyoya said.

"Oh so that's his name." Kat said leaning against the wall.

"You must have nothing to do with that man." Tamaki said in Haruhi's ear causing her to jump back.

"Oh lord." Kat rolled her eyes.

"If you do," He continued. "You will definitely become cursed."

"Do you have any proof on the claim?" Haruhi asked.

"Yes it was during tests at the end of last year." He said in a dramatic way. "Ah, it's terrifying just to talk about it.

Flash back:

"Tamaki-kun, good morning" A girl said as he walked down the hall.

"Good morning." He said.

As he said that, he accidently stepped on a curse doll that was on the floor.

It was that day that I stepped on a curse doll, Belzenef… The test I took directly afterwards had been enumerated in incomprehensible letters, as though it was cursed! Then, I warily looked at those around me, but I knew none of them. I had shifted in to an alternate dimension." He said.

"Wah…"Hunny said terrified.

"Did that really happen?" Haruhi asked.

"That's just because you were so shaken up, and you went and took the test in greek class." Kyoya said calmly.

"He's probably right, curses don't exist." Kat said leaning on Kyoya's shoulder.

"No! It was a curse! What's more, three days, in the morning, for some reason my legs were as heavy as lead!" Tamaki said stand in front of them.

"That's because the day before you had that marathon, right?" Kyoya asked ignoring Kat leaning on him.

"Someone missed something." Kat said with a smirk.

"The power of the curse doll Belzenef is real." Nekozawa- senpai said eerily, "If you engrave the name of a person that you hate into this doll's back, they are certain to meet with misfortune."

"Oh, I wonder if misfortune invited people to a tea-party." Kat said sarcastically.

The twins chuckle at her remark.

"The Curse doll Belzenef did not like what you said beg for forgiveness or it will curse you." Nekozawa- senpai said.

"Remember I am a Kat goddess, it should beg to me." Kat reported smirking.

As she said this, the twins were talking to each other.

"This guy is dark, in more ways than one." Karou said.

"He says he hates bright lights, I wonder how he will like this." Hikaru said holding up a flashlight.

The twins ran up and turned on the flashlight in his face. Kat laughed at their prank.

"AHH…" Nekozawa- senpai screamed, and strangely enough, Tamaki screamed too.

Nekozawa- senpai ran out yelling "Murders" At them. The twins just shrugged their shoulders at each other.

"Darn, he left I was wondering if he was going to tell us where the tea-party was." Kat said leaving her perch on Kyoya and sat on the sofa.

"Hikaru, Karou how could you. You don't know the true terror of black magic." Tamaki said.

"Um… Tamaki you mean how couldn't they, I mean it's in their blood to prank, you should be use to it by now." Kat said yawning.

They twins just walked away from him.

"Ah, I'm bored." Hikaru said.

"Isn't there anything fun to do?" Karou asked.

"My dignity as a president… is being ignored…" Tamaki said in his corner.

"Look now you're making me clean up after your mess." Kat shot at the twins as she walked towards Tamaki.

"Hey, daddy can you help me with the piano solo I got?" Kat asked cheering him up.

"Of course my daughter." He said hugging her.

Kat allowed him to leading him to the piano to practice. She picked out a hard measure and got him to help her.

"Say, Haruhi, we have a favor to ask." The twins said.

"What is it?" Haruhi asked.

"The next day off we get…" Hikaru said.

"…Can we come over to your place?" Karou finished.

"Why would you?" Haruhi asked.

"Because we're awfully interested in it." They said.

Tamaki rushes up, Kat knew they were going to asked that so she tried to distract Tamaki, that didn't work. They are so paying for that distraction I'm thinking twenty bucks. They obviously have the money… She thought.

"No way." Haruhi said.

"None at all?" They asked.

"No way you'll just make fun of me." Haruhi said.

"No matter how we asked?" They asked with a twinkle in their eye.

"No way" She repeated.

"I've also long been think that I should pay respects to Haruhi's family." Tamaki said with a dramatic anime roses moment.

"No way in hell" Haruhi said.

"Then, let's do it this way. If you miss in the 'which one is Hikaru game', then as a penalty, we get to come to your house." They said, putting on their green caps. "Okay, which one is Hikaru-kun?"

"You're Karou and you're Hikaru." Haruhi said.

"Bzzzt! You got it wrong," They said together.

"No I didn't. You do look very similar, but you are different." Haruhi said smiling at them.

The twins just look at each other. Kat is talking to Kyoya and Tamaki about something or another, Mori, and Hunny were having cake.

"Say Haruhi-kun, once the cover whose hair is on left and right, the difference between Hikaru-kun and Karou-kun becomes completely indistinguishable. How can you tell?" A fan girl asked. The twins were now staring at Haruhi.

"Well now let's see… If I had to say… Hikaru's speech and actions ten percent more ornery than Karou's." Haruhi said she meant no offense.

After a moment, Karou started laughing.

"I'm sorry, Hikaru!" he said through his laughter, and started to laugh harder.

"Well, I just don't mask anything and always express myself honestly, so Karou is the one who is more spiteful." Hikaru said as he said that Karou stopped laughing.

"Don't go spinning this. Hikaru says I'm the one who's always going along, playing your selfish games, right."

Kat didn't get to hear what Hikaru said back because Kyoya sent her on errand run. Kat got what they needed then when back to the school quickly. As she past, the music room the door was open and she could see the piano.

They don't need these right away; I'll just play a few songs and leave. She thought. She ran in to the music room and laid down her bags. She warmed up with Ode to Joy first then played a few of her favorites. As she finished someone clapped. Kat turned around to see Aimi standing there.

"Oh hello Aimi." Kat said.

"Hello Kaida-senpai, that was beautiful." She praised Kat.

"Nah, I need some serious work." Kat said. "Can I escort you to your classroom?" She asked the girl.

"It's lunch time Kaida-senpai." Aimi said giggling.

"Oh I guess it is, let me drop off these bags then we can go to lunch together." Kat said.

"Okay I'll go with you." Aimi said.

They walked to the host club and Kat was relieved that no one was there. She quickly put everything away and escorted Aimi to lunch. As they got there to Kat's surprise, the boys were already there. She walked over to join Mori, Hunny, and Kyoya. Hunny gave her the run down on what happened when she was gone. After he told her everything, she looked at the twins fighting.

"Oh, this is going to be a long week." Kat sighed.

~The next day at lunch~

Apparently, the twins had dyed their hair pink and blue and started throwing things at each other with included Hunny. Kat was mad at them for throwing Hunny but didn't say anything because she might make it worse. Kat and the rest of the host club when into the lunch room to see them fight again.

Well at least they aren't throwing things at each other, but I wonder how long that will last Kat thought.

"I thought it was loud in here you two need to stop you're embarrassing the host club." Tamaki said.

"Oh my, it's the host club." A fan girl said.

"The boys from the host club are all together." Another girl said.

"Okay break, you are both to blame for this fight." Hunny started pulling out a cake. "Hika-chan and Kao-chan, go halfsies on this cake and make up! Okay? Oh, but I want some, too, so I guess I'll go thirdsies. We can't split the strawberry, so what can we do? Maybe I should just take it."

By then the twins were getting irritated. Mori picked up Hunny, took him away, and said, "You're just making it worst, so stop."

"Oh Haruhi fancy seeing you in the refectory." Tamaki said.

"I was concerned about those two, and followed them without thinking. I have a box lunch so I was going to eat in the classroom." Haruhi said.

"That's really nice of you Haruhi but I don't think any of us can really do anything right now." Kat said as she walked up behind Haruhi.

Tamaki got this weird look on his face and started to daydream. It was probably about him and Haruhi.

"Even if your box lunch did have an embarrassing heart in it, I would not hesitate to eat it." Tamaki said suddenly.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know your delusions are incoherent." Kyoya said getting his lunch.

Kat started laughing at Tamaki she already got her lunch and was waiting for them. She and Kyoya sat down together.

"Haruhi here's a spot." Hikaru said.

"Oh okay." Haruhi said.

"So how's the Shadow King?" Kat asked.

"Its fine, I upgraded it again." Kyoya replied.

Tamaki watched Haruhi take a bite of her lunch.

"Delicious isn't it? Delicious isn't it Haruhi, good. I'd like to let you eat that every day." He hurried over to their table. "Well done Hikaru, as a reward you can have my A lunch – so let me have the box lunch."

"No."Hikaru said.

"Oh don't say that"

"I'm not about to."

"Our king is being an idiot again." Kat said with a nod towards Tamaki.

Kaoru at down on the other side of Haruhi and before long they were throwing things at each other. Somehow, they ended up throwing Hunny, Mori, and Tamaki too. Haruhi took her box lunch and went into the classroom. Kat excused herself and followed her.

"Hey Haruhi, you okay?" Kat asked.

"Yeah… It's the twins fight that bothering me." Haruhi replied.

"I can see why, it's affecting us all, their being really annoying."

Kat sat down and finished her lunch with Haruhi.

~ Host club Meeting~

They Host Club had a meeting the twins weren't here for the meeting because it was a meeting about them. Kyoya was using a calculator.

"If this situation continues, we're going to have to stop the brotherly love package. Our designee rate is defiantly down." He said then he gave the freaky shadow king smile. "Oh, Haruhi this isn't something you should feel responsible for. Even though it was your thoughtless comment was the cause of this fight."

Haruhi obviously saw through his statement and knew that he was blaming her.

"Hika-chan and Kao-chan fighting with each other… It's never happen before, huh?" Hunny said.

Mori nodded.

"Is that right?" Haruhi said.

"I've known them since pre-school. Though we weren't in the same year, so I never talked to them, but they always seemed play together."

"Your right. I've only known them since middle school, but they always stood aloof. It seems like except for themselves them keep everyone at a distance. Their personalities were several times warped then there are now. Thinking about it that way, maybe this fight is a turn for the better. It means there world is starting to get a little larger doesn't it? Maybe it's best to leave them alone, under the circumstances."

Haruhi looked towards the window. Kat and Kyoya were talking be themselves about the host club finances.

~The next day~

The twins were throwing thing at each other again, so Kat put in her ear buds in and listened to my girl's ex boyfriend by Relient K.1 After they were done they had a huge pile of stuff with Hunny on top of it. Tamaki was shaking. Kat pulled out her ear buds.

"After so long, haven't you gotten over it yet? You brothers are putting us out."

"We're putting you out? We're putting you out, you say. You've got to be kidding! I'm the one put out! I'm the one with the same face as Kaoru. I'm sick and tired of being mistaken for you! The truth is, I hate your guts!" Hikaru yelled.

"You took the word right out of my mouth. Look at this!" Kaoru said he said pulling out a curse doll and a marker. "I'm going to write your name on the back of this Hikaru. From now on you're going to meet with lots of misfortune and sorrow."

Kat rolled her eyes at them but didn't put her ear buds back just in case. Haruhi on the other hand ran up and hit them both square on the head.

"Enough already! You don't go bringing this in a simple quarrel! You are both to blame for this fight, but even more to blame for bothering everyone around you with it! Now say you're sorry! If you don't make up right now, then I'll never let you come over as long as I live." Haruhi Yelled.

"Then if we do make up, Haruhi, we can come over to your house, right?" They said smirking circling around her.

Haruhi look at the doll and saw that Kaoru didn't write his brother's name, and slowly realized she was tricked.

Kat put her ear buds back in not wanting to hear their apologies.

~the next day~

Everything was normal the Host Club was open and the twins were playing which one is Kaoru game. Kat smiled, she was happy that the fight was over.


	10. Chapter 10: A short sweet one for us all

Notice to our new co-author: FlameAlchemistLove

* * *

><p>Kat stayed away from school, finally a week after the funeral she got enough guts to go back. The first day was hard, she had missed a lot and had to spent any free time studying and doing work. Lucky when she got to the host club the girls were more than ecstatic to see her and helped her with her girls were working like soldiers to get her the information and they were rewarded with the genuine smile that made them go into fits. When it was time to close up she got most of the work done and was caught up with the information. Afterwards the Haruhi and Kat went over everything just to make sure.<p>

"Well, since we have a test tomorrow want to come over to have study sleep over?" Kat asked with a smile.

"I'm not sure I'll have to ask dad..." Haruhi trailed off with a shrug.

"I'll go home with you then and we can eat there then come to my place. I brought the Stud so we definitely both fit. And I bought your favorite ice cream, strawberry." Kat said.

"What? Why does she get to go to your house?"The twins had popped in sometime.

"You've already been to my house and see how that went. And I need an estrogen fix." Haruhi said.

They twins grumbled at her then turned their attention to Kat. They started to circle her with a critical eye.

"You're too thin." Hikaru said poking her stomach.

"You haven't been sleeping well either." Kaoru noted.

Their loud remarks drew the rest of the host club and they were all examining her like a science experiment. Only Kyoya stood on the edge of the circle but she thought he may have been studying her the closest. Mori gave her a mock glare and a grunt, while Hunny and Tamaki hung on her. The twin were crowding her with affection and chocolates.

"You know maybe I should come over. We'll have a relaxing time then study, while we eat ice cream." Haruhi said with wide eyes.

Kat had to blink back tears, they were all being so warm? Cute? No loving. She glance around her with a smile but they her eyes rested on Kyoya. He was pushing up his glasses and went through the crowd.

"She needs her space. Why don't you give her some time?" His look dared anyone to go against him.

The twins and Tamaki glared but they all piled out and went to work on getting her stuffed animal and sleeping pills. Haruhi was the last to go and she looked at the both of them and smiled before she left.

Kat turned away to brush away any traces of tears but Kyoya gently turned her towards him. She didn't realize they were as close as they were until she was almost pressed against him.

"They are right you know, you haven't taken care of yourself." He murmured against her forehead.

"I- ah- um..." Stammered Kat, taken aback by the sudden gesture of tenderness.

"If you need someone to take care of you." He teased gently, "I may know an interested party."

She smiled a little, relaxing against him, "Yeah?"

"Mm." He agreed, lips caressing her skin.

She made a soft mewling noise reminiscent of her namesake.

"Do you want me to take care of you, kitten?" His clever mouth was teasing her earlobe now, causing a hot flush to blaze across her face and neck.

"Kyo!" Kat melted against the wickedly grinning young man, putty in his grip.

Kyoya allowed a self-satisfied grin to cross his face as he leaned back and looked at the dazed, blushing girl draped across him, swooping down to capture her lips in a lazy, affectionate kiss that only further dissolved her senses, sending Kyoya into a happy place of male pride and affection.

"We'll go out this weekend, I don't have anything too important to do." Kyoya said quietly when they broke apart.

"Really?" Kat still a little daze smiled at him.

"Really." He kissed her softly then pulled away. "We better stop before the break down the door."

Kat laughed and rested her head on his shoulder. Kyoya wrapped his arms around her and smiled softly. True to his insight Tamaki and the twins came barging in a few minutes later but stopped suddenly when the saw Kyoya and Kat standing there holding each other. Tamaki turned red and the twins start to grin.

"I...Um...Sorry to interrupt." Tamaki stuttered and Kat and Kyoya moved apart but Kyoya slipped his arm around her waist.

The twins however more bold when up to stand on either side of them.

"You are prepared to marry her right?" Hikaru asked.

Kat started to blush but barely noticeable. Kaoru leaned in and look at her face, then looked at Hikaru. They stared at each other for a few minutes then ran off to find Tamaki. Kat laughed and Kyoya walked her out, his arm still on her waist. Outside the guys, and Haruhi, were in a circle around a crying Tamaki and a strangely quiet and annoyed twins. She started to laugh again drawing attention to them. They all gathered around her and Tamaki hung on her crying.

"Daddy doesn't want his little Kitty to leave home!" He cried

"Tamaki, I'm not leaving." She said with a smiling patting his back.

"Yes you are!" He blubbered.

"Daddy you need to stop. You'll ruin my leather jacket, and you wouldn't want that would you?" Kat said with a calming voice.

"Yes you're right. I don't want to ruin my Kitty's clothes." He stopped crying almost immediately. "But promise me you'll always be daddy's little girl!"

"I promise!" Kat smiled.

As he collapsed on the soft futon in their bedroom, Kaoru couldn't help but sigh. Hikaru heard this.

"What's wrong, Kaoru?" he asked, turning his head over his shoulder.

"I'm worried about Kat," he admitted. "You saw how she looked today."

"Yeah, I did," Hikaru agreed. He turned away from the window and walked toward his brother, sitting beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders. He let his younger twin lean his head on his shoulder. "But don't worry about it. Kat's strong. And she has Kyoya looking after her." Hikaru had to tie down a chuckle. "And you know how the Shadow King gets."

This teased a tiny, half-hearted smile from Kaoru. "Yeah," he said with a sigh. "I suppose you're right..."

Hikaru could already tell his brother was going to worry no matter what he said. He rested his chin on the identical boy's head and sighed through his nose. He closed bright golden eyes and smirked a bit. "Hey, have you heard?"

"Heard what?" Kaoru said, turning his head and pressing his face into his brother's neck. (NO TWINCEST.)

"There's a new girl transferring to our school tomorrow," Hikaru replied, shifting so that his brother could lean more comfortably against him. "You know the Stallion family?"

"Yeah. They're in close cahoots with the Suou and Ootori families, if I'm not mistaken, right?"

"So I've heard." Hikaru laughed a bit. "I wouldn't mind having a powerful asset like that associated with the Hitachiins."

"But anyway, about the new student." Kaoru blew out a warm breath against Hikaru's neck, his arms going around his brother's torso. He snuggled closer into the warmth of Hikaru's embrace. "What's her name?"

"I don't know." With one hand, Hikaru reached for his laptop sitting on the futon on Kaoru's other side. The youngest twin shifted and hauled himself up onto Hikaru's lap, sitting with his head against the other dusty-haired teen's shoulder. One arm still around his brother, Hikaru typed quickly with one hand, pulling up the Ouran High records.

Kaoru opened his eyes, drowsy, and glanced at the screen as Hikaru sat back. "Megan, is that it?" he mumbled, holding his brother closer and closing his eyes again, wanting nothing more than to fall asleep like this.

"According to this, she's the sole heir to the Stallion family business and fortune," Hikaru read, leaning his head gently against his brother's. "She's only part Stallion on her father's side."

"Part?" Kaoru said, voice drifting off, only half-listening. "What about her mother?"

"It doesn't say," Hikaru said, humming a bit as he typed some more. Kaoru felt the soft vibrations run through his brother's chest and smiled against his neck. "It just says she's Stallion on her father's side. She was homeschooled until now, and is transferring into Class 1A tomorrow."

"Mmm, that's our class," Kaoru replied, voice hardly coherent with sleep. "Is she pretty?"

"Her ID picture isn't up yet," Hikaru said, closing the windows and shutting his laptop gently. "Kaoru, come on. Let's get you into bed."

But Kaoru was already asleep.

Kat

Kat and Haruhi giggled over the picture of Kaida at a bar trying to flirt with some girl. They were sitting on her couch with a digital photo album that Marsha put together of all humorous pictures. Of course, a carton of strawberry ice cream was sitting between them with two spoons sitting in it. Haruhi turned so she was facing Kat and got another spoonful of ice cream

"So, do you want to talk about it?" Haruhi asked.

Kat turned towards her, startled by the question. She was quiet for a bit before grabbing a spoonful as well. She was thinking about everything, and if she really wanted to open up to the other girl. Haru was her best friend, or best girl friend, at least. The Host Club were all her best friends, together through thick and thin. She looked at Haruhi again.

"I just don't know what to do," she started slowly. "I feel like part of my life has just been cut off."

Haruhi didn't say anything just looked at her curiously and waiting for her to continue.

"She was everything to me. My parents are nuts, my brother is overprotective and has daddy issues, Katherine doesn't really have time to talk, Kuon is a similar page as my parents, Kyoko is a little too busy being prego, and, well, to be perfectly blunt, I have no one else in my family to turn to." She finished with a sigh and a wish for wine.

Haruhi gave her a smile and hugged her, careful not to knock over their ice cream.

**"I'm sorry, but you'll get through this, and we are going to help," the brunette promised. "The Host Club isn't here for anything if not its friends and members."**


	11. Short Story: For Your Entertainment

Kat danced to the music, alone in her living room on a Friday night. In her yoga shorts and black tee shirt. She loved how the music could move her, speak to her. It also help she have professional lessons for six years. She had set her playlist to a fast beat that made her move, she spun then lunged down on to one bend leg while the other slid out. She got up and took a drink of her water bottle that was on the table by the sofa, while waiting for the next song to come on. She heard a rock, slightly techno beat she grinned. This song had always remember her of Kyoya, it matched him to a T. She grinned and paused the song as she got a wicked idea.

Several hours, a dozen stores, and more the a few odd looks later Kat was almost prepared. She just had to get her dance floor ready. The great thing about having a penthouse suite is how big it is. She had marsha close the curtain around the huge window and set up the cameras. She had to wire them to Marsha and set her to command them. With a certain code Kat could program Marsha to choose with cut from which camera was what she wanting by coding them by adjectives. Kat smirked again while she tinkered with Marsha hard drive, and choose two adjectives for Marsha to compute. After about fifteen minutes of that she was almost ready ready. She quickly got her props together and put on a special outfit she got for the occasion. She look at herself in the mirror, spun, then winked at her reflection. She got her makeup bag out and gave herself a heavy smoky eyed effect and dark lipstick. She grabbed her black fedora and silver headed cane. Then she lit the candles, ready for her show to begin.

Kat told Marsh to fade the lights and turn on the flashing neon ones. Then she had Marsha role the cameras and the song at the same time. She turned around and stood with her legs slightly wider than shoulder length. She held up her fingers,

"Three, two, one!" The music started.

_So hot out of the box_

_Can we pick up the pace_

_Turn it up, heat it up_

_I need to be entertained_

_Push the limit, are you with it?_

_Baby don't be afraid_

_Imma hurt you real good baby_

She started out moving slow, then picked up the pace. She grinned at the camera and gave in to the seductive music. She threw off her fedora and it landed on the corner of a chair, then she blew out a candle.

_Let's go it's my show, baby, do what I say_

_Don't trip off the glitz that I'm gonna display_

_I told you, Imma hold ya down until you're amazed_

_Give it to ya til you're screamin' my name_

_No escaping when I start_

_Once I'm in I own your heart_

_There's no way you'll ring the alarm_

_So hold on until it's over_

Kat was wearing black leather skinny jean with a criss-cross open pattern up each leg. A strapless bright neon green bra with a black leather half jacket over it. She blew a kiss to a camera, and then spun her cane.

_Oh, do you know what you got into?_

_Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?_

_'Cause it's about to get rough for you_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

_Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet_

_'Ya thought an angel swept you off ya feet_

_But I'm about to turn up the heat_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

_It's alright_

_You'll be fine_

_Baby, I'm in control_

_Take the pain_

_Take the pleasure_

_I'm the master of both_

_Close your eyes_

_Not your mind_

_Let me into your soul_

_I'm a work it 'til you're totally blown_

_No escaping when I start_

_Once I'm in I own your heart_

_There's no way you'll ring the alarm_

_So hold on until it's over_

_Oh, do you know what you got into?_

_Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?_

_'Cause it's about to get rough for you_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

_Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet_

_'Ya thought an angel swept ya off your feet_

_Well I'm about to turn up the heat_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

_Oh oh..._

_Oh oh..._

_Entertainment..._

_Oh oh... Oh entertainment..._

_I'm here for your entertainment..._

_Oooohhh..._

_Do you like what you see?_

_Wooooaaaahhhh..._

_Let me entertain 'ya till you screeaaam_

_Oh, do you know what you got into?_

_Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?_

_'Cause it's about to get rough for you_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

_Oh, I bet you thought that I was soft and sweet (bet ya thought)_

_'Ya thought an angel swept ya off your feet_

_Well I'm about to turn up the heat (turn up the heat)_

_I'm here for your entertainment_

Then the lights went off. Kat laughed and got up to see how the video turned out, she couldn't describe how well it worked. Marsha worked with the adjectives Seductive and Exciting well. After she was done with editing the minor things she sent it to Kyoya's email with the title "I bet you wish you were here"


	12. 11: A Ball for our Host Club

A/N: I'm back with a chapter, thanks to for prodding me, as my best friend is her job but credit shall be given! Anywho thank you so much to all of you who have reviewed! Gosh I love reviews, as does most writers. As I'm sure ya'll want to get to the good stuff, here it is! Digital Cupcakes to reviewers: Jaz-147, QueenyLeAaCh, that one Guest ;3, Lunaconspiracy365, jadez123, FlameAlchemistLove(special credit for helping me write), BaaSheep, and last but definitely not least . ! Now on to our story!

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><p>Kat leaned back against Kyoya's torso and sighed from their perch on the floor leaning on the couch. "I've not heard from Kaoru or Hikaru for a while. You think they're okay?"<p>

"I'm sure they're fine, Kitten," Kyoya said, shifting so that his legs were slightly curving to move her closer and she snuggle deeper into his chest. He put one arm around her stomach and the other hand behind his head. He closed dark eyes and smiled. "You shouldn't worry about them."

"Why the hell not?" she demanded, moving her hands off his leg in a gesture he couldn't see. "They could be in trouble."

"Oh yes," Kyoya agreed. "I'm sure they're in big trouble. Did I forget to tell you? I must have, I'm sorry. I'm keeping my science project in the kitchen. I'm breeding lions and venomous piranhas to see what the outcome is. Unfortunately, my most recent hybrid kind of turned on me and is now running haywire in there. I'm sure he's having quite a meal back there right now. Although," he added after a pause, truly thoughtful, "I don't know why he would eat Hikaru and Kaoru. I'm sure they're mostly skin and bones, even with what they eat."

Kat rolled onto her stomach so she was level with his head and smacked Kyoya's chest. "Stop it!" she cried, although she was smiling as well. Then she grew serious, kneeling above Kyoya's laughing figure, and said, "But they could have gotten caught up in something."

Kyoya regained his composure and pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking up at the girl kneeling in front of him. "Kitten, I know right now it seems like the world is an evil, cold place with no regard to anyone close to you, hmm?" He didn't wait for her response. "You know that the Host Club, if for anything, is for its friends, members, and family." He touched her nose. "You fall into two of those categories. I know you're still upset after what happened with your grandmother, but you don't have to worry." He smiled gently. "We're here to help you get back on your feet, and we'll be here until we're not needed anymore."

Tears filled Kat's eyes. "But, Kyo," she whispered, "how can you make a promise like that when you can't even tell what's going to happen five minutes into the future?"

"I don't have to be able to tell what's happening five minutes, five months, or even five years from now to make that promise," Kyoya said. "All I see in our future is you and I and the rest of the Host Club." He cocked his head slightly and smiled. "We'll get through anything. Trust me."

A few drops of wetness fell down her cheeks. She scrubbed her eyes, cursing furiously under her breath. A sob shook her shoulders as her hand paused over her eyes, but she didn't remove it as she continued. "But you...and any of the others...could l-leave...just like Grandmother did. Just-just up and gone...without a word." She looked at Kyoya. "How can you promise me anything?" The last word broke on a sob she had desperately tried to hold back.

Kyoya pulled her close against his chest and stroked the back of her head as she clung to him, trembling as she cried silently. "Hush, Kitten, it'll be okay. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. You and I will always be side-by-side if I have anything to say about it. And you know me." He smiled very slightly, his eyes unreadable as always behind his glasses. "I will always have a say in it."

Despite her tears, Kat couldn't help but smile. She knew that things would get better. Somehow they would and until then she had someone to hold on to.

All the while Kyoya couldn't help but wonder how they had got to the sweet place they were now. It began she was someone he was slightly annoyed by and then all of the sudden every time he look at her he went breathless for a second or two. He didn't know exactly when it began and every once in awhile he couldn't help but wonder what exactly he was feeling. For now he set aside the thoughts and just held her in his arms. The next morning Kyoya woke up to Kat's alarm ringing in the bedroom. He opened his eyes to find a sleeping Kat on his chest, she looked so angelic her hair slightly messed up and flipping out in every direction. He knew she hated that about her hair. Though he thought her hair looked amazing no matter what. He sighed and got up to turn off the alarm clock. He heard Kat start to move so he asked Marsha to make them a cup of coffee. He slipped into the bathroom and took a shower.

While Kyoya was in the shower Kat was slowly awakening to the smell of coffee. She looked around for a moment wonder why she was on the couch then she remembered falling asleep in Kyoya's arms. She smiled as she realized he must have carried her to the couch, he must have had stay with her, and got up to get her coffee. He liked his black and she like hers with lots of cream and a bit of sugar. She thought about her grandmother, it was truly like losing a piece of her soul. She could still smile and laugh but at the end of the day it felt like it was all nothing. She chewed on what Kyoya had said that night, about getting through it. She knew that the world wasn't really this cold but it damn well felt like it. As she was going along this train of thoughts she went to the bedroom to get changed. Though it seemed the day was destined to end in hell. As they got ready Kyoya had her ride in his car, with was waited outside for them. After that time spent in silence just wrapped up in each other the blur of school came and they were whisked off in separate directions, her to the maniacal trigonometry. Later in her study period she got a phone call...

"THEY DID WHAT?" Kat yelled into her phone.

"Don't yell." Katrina said.

"Rina," She was exasperated, "They invited every Blueblood I've shared two words with in my entire life! Not to mention completely disregarding the people I personally invited and dis-invited!"

"It's not that bad." Rina soothed.

"Oh really? And to top that I have to wear a formal gown." Kat seethed.

"Oh stop fussing! It's only five hours."

"I hate this, but there's no way of getting out of it now." Kat said flatly. "Just make sure that the people I dis-invited aren't there."

"I know, we won't have your secret getting out." Trina assured her.

Kat was distracted by her earlier conversion with her sister and was tuning out the constant drone of female chatter.

"Hey, Kitty." They twins bellowed, bringing her from her thoughts.

She wasn't focusing, and looked at the boys languorously "Hm?" The boy's looked a little concerned.

"You may want to start before Kyoya glare burns a hole straight through you." Hikaru said in a low voice, giving her an affectionate smile.

She glanced at the Shadow King and winced, "Thanks."

"No problem, Kitty Kat." Karou grinned.

"Anything for our precious Kitty." His brother agreed.

Kat rolled her eyes half-heartedly at the nickname but did start enticing the girls.

"So Kat," Nameless-fan-girl asked, "What are you doing this weekend?"

She downplayed her own activities, "Just some party. I'm sure you're doing something much more fascinating."

"You mean that big party at the mansion on Raven Street?" Other-nameless-fan-girl asked.

"Yes," Kat answered, pausing to allow a sensuous smile to steal it's way across her face, "but I'm afraid I won't be able to enjoy myself-" She glanced up through her lashes, "without you." The girls all swooned and spent the rest of the afternoon in a daze of fangirlness. After the girls left, Kat immediately found a strong cup of coffee. She leaned against a doorframe and massaged her temples, today was really a drain. Unbeknownst to Kat, Kyoya was observing her with faint traces of concern on his normally stoic features. Kat drinking any kind of stimulant is unusual, due to her low tolerance of caffeine. He casually got up from his chair and, crossing the room, picked up a coffee as well.

"Something wrong?" Kyoya asked as he sipped his drink, surprising Kat.

She turned sharply and found her front pressed against his.

"Nothing to worry about." She assured, looking faintly uncomfortable.

However Kyoya did not seem inclined to move, in fact he wrapped his free arm around her, pulling her closer. He just gave her a look, giving her to firm impression that he didn't believe her.

"Nothing to worry about, really." She gave him a half-hearted smile, "Are you guys coming tonight?"

He gave her a rather incredulous glance, "Of course." Kyoya stated, as if it was a given. Well, Kat mused, it probably is. Kyoya wouldn't pass up on a good PR opportunity, plus he had promised months before.

"Fabulous," Kat's smile was radiant, and tension visibly drained away from her posture, inadvertently pressing her body closer to his. She stiffened immediately. "I don't have to worry about business." His knowing smile made her knees feel weak, but he gave her more space.

"Glad to know someone's thinking straight." He quipped, turning and leaving Kat alone with her thoughts.

Kat hid a soft smile behind her coffee as she gazed at his retreating figure.  
><em>It's nice to know he's there.<em>

~Later that night~

Kat looked at herself in the mirror with a critical and practiced eye. _Well,_ She inwardly sighed, _It isn't going to get much better than this._ She ran a gloved hand over her satin covered curves. The dress was a lead colored satin, ruched tight to her body and flaring out at the bottom. The thin halter and border of her neckline were heavily adorned with pearls. She was wearing hair extensions for the evening and brushed her long red away from her face with one hand; revealing pearl earrings so long, they brushed her shoulders. She heard Marsha say something about a limousine that her parents sent over. She paused long enough to slip on her matching stole and clutch.

"Marsha, only those on my list allowed in while I'm not here."

"Of course Miss Khaos!" Marsha huffed, rather insulted by the insinuation she needed to be reminded every time. Kat barely refrained from rolling her eyes at the AI's antics.

"Don't wait up honey." Kat tossed over her shoulder as she walked out. Kat immediately put in her iPod once in the limousine, fingers drumming on her leg restlessly as she attempt to relax on the way to her parents home. Once there, she took a moment to calm herself before braving whatever the night might the driver opened the door for her courteously, her parents greeted her.

"Darling, how absolutely marvelous to see you!" Her mother enthused as she hugged her tightly.

"Mum." Kat said tightly, nodding towards her in acknowledgement, but her mother was already greeting another guest.

"You did beautifully on the modeling gig." Her father told her, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you Papa." She replied, with a smile, which faded when she realized he wasn't paying attention either. Kat mingled with the guests, laughing falsely with the wives of business associates, schmoozing the sons of enemies, pandering to the egos of her peers, until, blessedly, the Host Club arrived, en masse.

"About time you lot showed up." She smiled wearily but teased good naturedly. The twins looked irritated and jerked their thumbs at Tamaki, who smiled nervously and blushed.

"He couldn't decide what to wear." Haruhi said with a grim set to her mouth, obviously exasperated.

She gazed at him in amazement, "And it took you four hours?" He was wearing a classic black and white tux, "How did that take four flippin' hours!?

"Katerina is that you?" A male voice smoothly interjected. Kat looked over to see Kuon, Kyoko and Kuon's manager, Yoshiro.

"Aunt Kyoko, Uncle Kuon" She beamed happily," you came!" She embraced them both, and noticed Yashiro watching the interaction closely, even while he was conversing with someone else.

"I see your classmates came." Kuon said, noticing the group.

"Yes of course!" She turned to her friends," Kuon, Kyoko these are my friends, Tamaki, Hikaru, Karou, Haruhi, Mori, Hunny, and Kyoya." She announced each with a smile.

"It's a pleasure. I'm already acquainted with Mitsukuni and Takashi." Kuon said.

"Really?" Kat asked before seeing something alarming over his shoulder, "Uncle Kuon, go say hello to mother before she strangles you." Kat said with mock exasperation.

Both women laughed when he glanced over and paled visibly at the sight of Kat's mother glaring fiercely at Kuon. Kat spent the rest of the evening chatting and dancing with the other hosts happily. But when someone brought up how she looked like a certain model, Kat quickly escaped to the kitchen. Her mother followed after a while.

"Isn't it a great party?" Her mother asked with a sigh of content.

"Wonderful, mother." Kat said with a wry smile, "You've outdone yourself again."

"Oh thank you dear," She tittered for a few moments, before glancing sideways at her "You don't look very happy."

_Of course she has an ulterior motive in following me,_ Kat thought with a mental death glare at her mother, with wasn't exactly mental.

"Just been a long night." Kat evaded the accusatory tone in the statement.

"You have never enjoyed parties much have you?"

"Not particularly." Kat glared at the ceiling, "It's always been your thing."

"Don't glare child! It isn't ladylike." Her mother corrected her sharply

"Do I give?" Kat asked drolly, inwardly seething over the 'child' comment.

"You should if want to be worth anything. Don't resort to glaring until the last battle." Her mother quoted her favorite book of etiquette.

"I was hoping it was the last battle." Kat murmured as she angled herself closer to the door.

"Are you having problems at school?"

"No mother."

"Boy problems?"Her mother persisted.

"No! Why do you always think there's a problem?!" She protested.

"Because that behavior says something's wrong."

She gave her mother a look. "The only problems I'm having are with you and Papa."

Her mother scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous, we're wonderful parents."

Kat was silent a few moments, struggling with what to say.

"Do you even know my favorite color?" She finally decided on.

"Yes," Her mother got a dreamy look on her face, "Your favorite color is baby blue, like mine when I was your age, and your second is bubblegum pink. You love horses and kittens, and you're just going through a rebellious faze right now. After it's over you'll be back to the sweet, wonderful, princess we love!"

Unknown to Kat and her mother the twins had their ears pressed to the door and were listening with growing disgust and horror as Kat's mom ranted. They could practically hear Kat's heart breaking.

"Well, now we know why she lives alone." Karou said after a moment.

"Her mom's really going at it in there." Hikaru winced sympathetically.

The twins carefully moved away from the door but were suspiciously silent. Eventually Haruhi had enough and confronted them.

"Nothing." They replied in tandem, their gaze shifty.

"If you don't tell me," She threatened, "I'll never let you come over to my house."

The twins look at each other with fear, then sighed. "Well Kat and her mother got into a fight…"

"The guilt card was played a couple times..."

"It was ugly. Her mom starting ranting about princesses and kittens." They both shuddered.

"And we got the feeling it was a pretty mild fight for them." The Host Club gaped at the twins, excepting Kyoya. They knew she had problems with her family, but no one really knows what's going on, even Kyoya didn't know the full extent. Which they both knew that each had problems with their parents but had never really discussed it.

"Hello," Kat's sister greeted the group, "You boys are from the Host Club, right?"

"Indeed, madam." Tamaki said, regaining his composure.

"Lovely to see you again." Trina said, "My sister never stops talking about you all."

"Likewise." Hunny said.

"May I ask where my sister is?" Trina asked.

"We saw her…"

"…go into the kitchen." The twins announced together.

A strange look passed across the older girl's face, but quickly dissipated.

"Oh? Thank you, I hope you will enjoy yourselves." She said distractedly, as she quickly walked away to speak with her Aunt Kyoko. Just then, the twins saw Kat rush out the front door, looking utterly distraught. They gave each other significant looks and hauled Kyoya away from the party.

"What are you two doing?" Kyoya hissed.

"Get…" Karou said.

"… your ass over there to her place." Hikaru finished.

Kyoya looked up sharply, just in time to see her limo pull away from the house. He turned his questioning gaze back to the twins, who grimaced.

"It was really bad." Hikaru said solemnly.

Kyoya merely nodded and swiftly called his own limousine.

Kat was sprawled across one of the couches with a bottle of wine in one hand. She felt like a heavy weight had settled over her heart, hurt and frustrated by her parents. She furiously blinked away tears as she gazed blankly at the fire dancing in the grate. With a pang, she thought of her grandmother, who could always soothe her after an especially painful encounter with her parents. If only you were here… Kat thought dejectedly.

Downstairs, Kyoya's Limo pulled up behind the building and he quickly boarded the elevator. As he waited impatiently, his heart feeling like it was doing somersaults in his chest over his concern for Kat.

"Should I notify Ms. Khaos of your presence, Mr. Ootori?" Marsha asked him in the elevator.

"Just let me in." Kyoya said sharply.

The doors opened and Kyoya cautiously stepped inside the foyer, he walked towards the living room but halted in the doorframe, at the sound of muffled sobs. He slid his glasses off his nose and ran a hand through his dark hair uncertainly. He avoided overly emotional women as a rule, but when he saw the state Kat was in he couldn't help himself. Carefully he pried the alcohol from her hands and set it on one of the tables, discarding his tuxedo jacket and bowtie as well. Then, gently, he gathered the distraught girl into his arms. Kat felt herself pressed against a strong chest and clung to it like a lifeline, completely uncaring of who or what at this point. Kyoya felt his heart squeeze painfully, at the feel of the soft, vulnerable girl pressed against him, noticing and trying to pretend he hadn't noticed that she was clothed only in a cream colored slip. Holding her closer, he shushed her quietly and ghosted a kiss across the top of her head.

"It's alright," He murmured, leaning his head against the top of hers, "I've got you, it's alright." As the tears dried up, they lay on the couch in silence.

"Kyoya" Kat called softly, hesitantly. He looked down, struck by how fragile this normally strong girl looked in his arms, how fragile she had been since her death.

"Hm?" Kyoya murmured, absently caressing her cheek. She was momentarily distracted, leaning into the warmth she craved so desperately.

When she pulled away a little, his dark eyes caught her golden ones and she saw nothing but, understanding, affection, and acceptance. "Thank you. I can't even tell you-"

"I know, kitten."

"I-" Kat began again, but silenced by his lips on hers. Kat started, but relaxed into his embrace, praying it wouldn't end. When they had to break for air, Kyoya guided her head back to his chest and held her there. Kat blushed hotly when she realized what this looked like.

"I'm not… I didn't have that much to drink." Kat said quickly.

Kyoya looked at her blankly for a moment; when it finally processed, he just tossed back his head and laughed. After they just laid like that and soon Kat closed her eyes and fell asleep against him.


End file.
